


Red Riding, at your service.

by SA_SA



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Abused Stiles Stilinski, Adopted Stiles Stilinski, Allison Argent & Stiles Stilinski Are Siblings, Alpha Derek, Anal Sex, BAMF Stiles, Derek Hale Takes Care of Stiles Stilinski, Derek is a Bad Alpha, F/F, F/M, Good Uncle Peter, Hunter Stiles Stilinski, Hurt Stiles, M/M, Mates, Mates Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Minor Character(s), Pack Bonding, Pack Feels, Stiles Stilinski is a Little Shit, Uncle Peter Hale, but it gets better, cursing, technically not a
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-03-20 05:08:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 48,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13710492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SA_SA/pseuds/SA_SA
Summary: Stiles had never wanted to be a hunter. The more Gerard had pushed the more he'd done the complete opposite. So when Crazy evil old Gerard decides he's had enough of him, all there is left to do for Stiles is run but not without a little present which may or may not lead to a bounty on Red Riding's head, a long ass stroll through the woods and an encounter with a very hot and broody Alpha.





	1. Fireworks in the Armoury

**Author's Note:**

> Stiles knew since day one that it wouldn't last long before Gerard had gotten enough of him. Honestly he had even been surprised no one had figured out what he did in his free time. He'd been waiting for the day Gerard would just kick him out off the clan so he could finally be free of them but he never would have expected he'd have to run for his life.
> 
> A.N.: This is my very first fic I ever posted. I've hesitated for seriously long time before finally finding the courage to start posting. I don't have a beta and my first language isn't English so if I've made a mistake somewhere let me know!  
> I'll try to post regularly but sometimes inspiration runs away from me anyways I won't abandon this fic. I hope there are still some Sterek lovers out there who might read this.  
> ( Obviously i do not own Teen wolf or any of the characters used in my fic. )

“ What the actual fuck, Ally? ”

Allison had woken him up in the middle of the night . He nearly killed her with his combat knives when she shook him awake.

Her big dark eyes opened wide at the contact of the blade on her throat.

Stiles lowered the knives.

“ Stiles you have to leave. “

“ Wha—? “ Stiles looked at her not understanding.

“Gerard is in his office with Kate and Ennis talking about how they are going to kill you on tomorrow's mission! ” Allison had whispered it but it still filtered clear enough through his brain for him to be completely awake in an instant.

“ What are you talking about? ”

Allison was already grabbing his backpack out of his wardrobe.

“ He said you are Red Riding, said he was going to kill you himself and…” even in the dim moonlight Stiles could see her shudder. “ They sounded insane, Stiles! You’re not Red Riding are you? ”

How did he not see this coming? Of course he knew that After years of screwing over the Argents, someone would have ended up figuring it out. But he never imagined that senile old satan himself would try to fucking kill him!

Allison had been looking at him.

He could see in her eyes that she already knew the answer to that question when she held out his old red hoody.

“ We don’t have time, get dressed! ” Allison was stuffing his backpack with a couple of clothes. “ We have to get you out of here now! Gerard was still discussing plans with Kate and Ennis when I overheard them. ”

She picked up the old laptop she once gave him because Gerard and her parents didn’t want to buy him one.

“ No, not the laptop.” She turned to him with a confused look.“ It’s encrypted but… I don’t want to take any risks.”

Her face fell, she knew how much Stiles loved the laptop but they both knew what Gerard was capable of. She’d have to get rid of the laptop herself just incase anything was on it. Stiles hurried out of his pyjamas and to put on his all black combat uniform.

 

Allison didn't know how Stiles remained so calm.

“ I assume you had an escape plan when you started with this nonsense.”

“ This nons—? Ally you know damn well it’s not nonsense! It is the only right thing to do! There’s a code Ally! Everyone forgot about it! ” Allison made an other hurtful face. “ Yeah, I know you and Chris follow the code, but you have just as much blood on your hands as Gerard for not standing up to him. ”

“ That doesn’t mean you had to betray the family and become Red Riding! ”

Stiles barely held back his mocking laugh.

“ The family? I'm adopted Allison, I’m not part of your family. Everyone has always made sure I'd remember it. ”

“ You’re my brother! ”

“ And yet you never lifted a finger when I got beat up, insulted and humiliated nearly every single fucking day. It even happened two days ago when Ennis decided he needed a ‘Fucking release’ but hey, at least you draw the line at murder. Good for you! ”

Allison cringed at the sharpness in his voice.

“ Stiles, please, let’s just get you out of here. What is your plan?”

“ I’m freeing the prisoners. ”

“ That’s to dangerous. ”

“ I’ve been doing it since I was 14, Ally. Don’t worry, you get the fun part, you get to blow up the armoury to make a diversion.”

“ I knew you were a total sap for dramatics. “

Stiles couldn't help but grin at that.

  
  
  


It took about 10 minutes to free the prisoners from Gerard’s creepy dungeons and get them to the surface. He’d had to knock out Greenburg who was guarding them. He silently thanked which ever entity liked him enough to grant him such an easy access.

The Prisoners for the most part, had figured out who he was the moment he’d explain the plan. Some had been whispering wondering if he was Red Riding, asking if he was going to save them, others didn’t seemed to care if he was or not. Like the young werewolf with short blonde hair barring his teeth at him.

“ Listen, Lassie, you can either work with me so we can all get out of here alive or you can go a head and not listen to my perfectly simple plan to wait for the signal and run out there like an imbecile getting us all killed. ”

The boy, glared at him. He looked exhausted and unhealthy, he barely looked 17.

Jesus Christ, Gerard never stopped disgusting him.

“ Good I take that as a ‘  _ Thank you Red for being so awesome with your awesome plan to save the world  _ ’. ”

Although everyone was on edge a couple shifters still had enough life in them to snickered at the exchange earning themselves glares from the younger wolf. Stiles found some relief in that. It meant Gerard hadn’t managed to break them.

The moment the explosion shook the walls of the Argent mansion all hell broke loose. 

The younger shifter ignored his warning to stay put and broke the lines running out in the open and inevitably catching the guards' attention. 

Stiles saw one of the hunters in charge of the surveillance of the gates point at the young boy and motion for the two others to get out their weapons.

His reflexes kicked in before he even thought of it.

 

It took Stiles and all the shifters who witnessed it a couple of seconds to understand what just had happened. 

Stiles gun was out and the three guards where down.

Red Riding was no longer anything close to a hunter anymore for he had shot his own to protect a werewolf.

Stiles caught the look on the younger boy's face. His expression of shock mirrored on his own face.

He snapped out of it and started to run toward the gates.

“ Run! All of you, run! ”

He headed for the security cabin and opened the Silver gates that led to the forest surrounding the mansion.

  
  
  
  


Stiles was running as fast and as far away as he could from the sound of the mess he left behind.

The plan had been simple. 

They only had to wait a couple of seconds for the guards to abandon their post at the sound of the explosion, then he would have opened the gates and they’d all run out into the woods and scatter around. 

No groups more than three. 

No one would have been hurt.

He knew for sure that he hadn’t killed the three hunters.

Even in his instinctual reaction he’d aimed for non-vital points so they would survive, but it didn’t change anything. It wasn’t unheard of that a clan of hunters would have issues with another clan but he’d never once heard of a hunter shooting his own clan to save a werewolf’s life.

 

The thing was… he knew he’d do it again because it had been the only way to save the boy’s life.

 

He ran without seeing anything around him. branches clawing like tiny hands at his face and arms as he ran right through them.

It was the middle of the night, no way he’d have been able to see the ditch he was headed to.

He tumbled down trying in vain to protect his face and body and tried to catch himself back on his feet. 

The moment his right foot hit the ground he knew he had sprained his ankle. 

He felt the ‘pop’ sound of it more than he heard it but both adrenaline and the fear of being caught and gutted by Gerard in the middle of the woods fuelled him enough to keep going.

 

Stiles went for hours not knowing where he was headed. When he finally didn’t have enough energy to run anymore he went on and walked.

He didn’t know what time it was, he’d left his phone too. 

Any electronic device he managed to get his hands on in the seven years he'd been at the mansion had to be left behind.

He couldn’t be traced, he knew he’d have to avoid big cities and being openly out especially during the day.

 

The sun had come up and was already going down when he finally admitted to himself that he didn’t have the energy to keep walking. He had to rest and his ankle was giving him shit for not doing so.

He found a three surrounded with dense bushes high enough to hide his sleeping form and fell asleep against its trunk holding his two favourite combat knifes tucked close.

  
  
  
  
  



	2. Smoke = Trouble

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, I'm very grateful for the words of encouragements and the kudos they made me ridiculously happy!  
> Thanks! 
> 
> Now let's see what's up with Gerard!

Gerard slammed his fist on the table rendering the entire room silent.  
" You bunch of useless shits! You’re telling me that in one night time we were attacked here, in our home, lost the armoury and the prisoners?! And nobody knows or saw anything?! I want an explanation now! "  
Ennis stiffened when Gerard turned to him. He’d just walked into the room. Dammit, he should have stayed out a little longer.  
" Stiles is missing sir and from the way this attack has been carried out it is safe to say that it was Red Riding.” Gerard started laughing. The sound of his lifeless laugh chilled him to the bone. 

“ You are telling me that once again Stiles got the better of us?! " Gerard’s walking stick hit Ennis right in the jaw, he had to lean onto the wall to regain his balance. Ennis wiped the blood off of the corner of his lips with the hem off his jacket. Aside from Kate's wolfish grin and Ennis’ angry glare directed at her, no one dared to show any emotion on their faces.

“ Did anyone see Stiles leave? " No one dared to answer the question.  
Gerard’s eyes fell on his grand daughter.  
“ Allison, did you not see your sweet little brother leave? ” Allison’s blood ran cold. There was nothing but hate in her grandfather’s eyes. It’s always in these moments she remembers why Stiles nicknamed him ‘Crazy Old Satan’.  
“ Stiles and I aren’t close. He wouldn’t have told me if he was leaving. ” 

Gerard glared at the room full of hunters.  
"So not a single one of you pathetic, sorry excuses for hunters, saw or heard anything? Three hunters shot and unconscious, all the prisoners gone and no one saw or heard anything! " 

“ Father, are you saying Stiles is Red Riding? What proof of it-“

“ You want proof?! That useless stray dog you brought back home has betrayed the clan over and over again! He refused to hunt on those aberrations of nature, sympathised with them, he even dared to speak on their behalf and he is now gone in the event off an attack on us! An attack on Me! ”  
Chris’ brows furrowed. Gerard was completely mad.  
“ Oh don’t look at me like that and think, Christopher. When was the first time we ever heard of Red Riding? ” Gerard looked at his dumb son. 

“ About seven years ago but Stiles was barely fourteen and untrained. It’s impossible.” 

Gerard lifted his eyes up and let out an exasperated sight.

“ Didn’t they talk about a child with a red hood, Christopher? Do you not remember what your dog was wearing the day you brought him into this house? ” Gerard could see that his son wasn’t going to help himself out off that one. “Don’t worry son, it took me all those years to remember too. Until I decided to take a look at his adoption file.” Gerard fished a picture out of his pocket and threw it on the table.  
Chris picked it up recognising the small fourteen year old Stiles he’d brought home seven years ago. Stiles hadn’t changed in his eyes. He’d been twitchy and untrusting. When he’d heard about how the sherif died in a fire trying to save a family trapped in their burning home, he’d inquired about his child right away. Noah had been a good friend of his during their high school years. Seeing his picture on the screen had been a shock. He had known when the man had lost his wife being left with a child. He’d taken his phone and made calls everywhere to find out where the kid was.  
He remembers how small and helpless Stiles had looked wearing his father’s oversized red hoodie. The kid had been holding onto it for days after the accident not wanting to change clothes. The adoption centre had told him that it was his fathers but after the first day he brought him back home he’d never seen the hoodie again so he forgot about it.

“ Why where you looking at his adoption file? ” 

Gerard slammed his hand on the table again.  
“ That is not the point, Christopher! Your dog has been helping out those monsters actively betraying us and dirtying the Argent’s name! I had the chance to kill him myself but I was too late.” 

Chris gave his father an angry look. Gerard was starting to get irritated with his son.  
“ He was useless and wouldn't commit to our cause. If you cant tame them kill them. "

“ What are you talking about?! He’s an Argent! " 

Gerard turned a freezing glare towards his son. That pathetic idiot always got attached to useless things.  
“ He never was and never will be an Argent. He turned against us. Only proves I was right to be wanting to get rid of him. " 

Chris turned a shocked look at his father.  
“ You can't be serious! Do you even hear yourself, you sound crazy?! You're talking about Stiles, a human being! Not a werewolf or any supernatural creature but Stiles! "  
“ Say one more word about it and I'll make sure you'll follow him. " 

Chris wanted to speak again but both Alison and Victoria held him back. 

Kate's laughter filled the room making a couple of the men stifle nervously. 

“ Aww, Chris. Always such a sucker for broken things. " Kate turned to Chris. “ I'll go get little Stiles if you want. But he just might not come back in one piece. " 

“ No, I need someone competent here by my side. " Gerard turned to look out the Window. He could still see smoke emanating from what used to be his armoury. “ I want a full report on how he managed to get out without any of us knowing it. Put the word out that we will reward whom ever brings us Red Riding. I want him alive, I'll have the pleasure of ending him myself. "


	3. Lady Luck where might you be?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles finally makes it to Beacon Hills

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This a bit of a short one but I promise to compensate in the next chapter ;)

 

Stiles woke up drenched in sweat. He wasn’t sure but he thought he might have been screaming.  
It had been about three days since his escape. He looked around to try and orientate himself. The sun had already gotten down, there was still a little but the forest was already clothed in darkness. Stiles tried to scrub the remaining tiredness out of his eyes, without much success, and stood up.  
His ankle was hurting, it was a dull pain but he could still walk on it— oh, oh nononono that hurt like a bitch! He patted around a little trying to find his improvised walking stick.  
He let out a sight and forced himself to keep going.

After three days of walking through seriously unhelpful scenery he finally reached a highway. He followed it from a far staying out of sight for an other two days before stopping at a gas station with a small dinner along the way. He made his way into the restrooms behind it to fill up on water then freshened himself up.  
He washed his face and upper body best he could then changed clothes hissing and barely keeping tears away when he forced his jeans over his swollen ankle and back into his boots. The walking stick got left in the last booth of the rest rooms. It was best not to attract to much attention to himself. He gave himself a little pep talk before forcing himself to walk into the gas station while doing his best to hide his limp.  
He had a little cash on himself. He hoped he could get some painkillers, food and a lift to anywhere as long as it led him further away from Gerard.  
He walked into the gas station first avoiding the security cameras. He geared up on pain killers and got a couple chocolate bars. All he wanted to do was eat them right then and there. He’d fed on wild berries and gotten his hands on an unlucky hare two days ago but that was about al he’d had in days. Thanks God Ally had thought of throwing a water bottle in his bag, if she hadn’t he’d probably be dead right now. He paid for the supplies efficiently avoiding the security cameras and entered the dinner next to the gas station hoping he could find someone to give him a lift there. 

The smell of food overwhelmed him, his stomach growled so hard he thought the three people sitting in here probably heard it.  
He sat at the counter a seat away from an old trucker eating beacon and eggs.  
The woman behind the counter gave him an uninterested look before asking him what he wanted.  
He got himself pancakes and coffee.  
It took 10 minutes and 46 secondes before his pancakes arrived. The 627 slowest seconds of his entire 21years spent on this earth. His self control got tested when the woman finally put them in front of him. He tried not to throw himself on them right away and slowly poured sirup on it before taking a bite. A moan left his throat making the man next to him laugh.  
“ That’s a mean thing you got going on kid.”  
Stiles turned to the man and saw him give a nod towards his ankle. Shit, not as subtle as he’d thought.  
Stiles gave a look at his own ankle and saw it had doubled in size.  
“ Yeah, I sprained it. ”  
“ No shit. ” The man took a sip of his coffee and Stiles would have answered but he was too busy eating to care.  
“ You should get that checked out, kid. ”  
He felt like saying something about that “ Kid ” thing but remembered he came in to get a lift.  
“ Yeah, I was actually looking for a lift to the nearest town… to get it checked out. ”  
The man nodded his head and didn’t say anything for a while. Stiles thought that meant the guy wouldn’t help and turned back to his pancakes.  
“ I’m headed to a small town near Sacramento. I got a cargo to drop off near the hospital over there, I could give you a lift. It’s about 5 hours away from here. ”  
Stiles swallowed down his coffee and took a look at the man. He seemed friendly, he didn’t get any creeper vibes from him and even if the guy tried something he was pretty sure he wasn’t the one in danger.  
“ That would be amazing. My name is James. ”  
“ Yeah, sure. ” The man laughed and shook his head before grabbing his extended hand. “ Robert. Bobby for the friends.”  
Stiles finished his plate and tipped the woman before getting his improvised walking stick and following Bobby who was already waiting for him.

 

He actually enjoyed his ride with the trucker. The man barely spoke but when he did it was small talk. Stiles knew he deliberately avoided personal questions and appreciated him for that. He figured Bobby had probably met his fair share of runaways on the road working as a trucker.  
It was already dark outside when they passed a sign announcing they were in Beacon Hills. The trucker dropped him off near the parking lot of the hospital and bid him farewell.  
“ Stay out of trouble kid. ”  
Stiles laughed at that and waved him goodbye. As soon as the truck disappeared he went the opposite direction. He couldn’t get to the hospital, they’d ask questions. Keep records of him, probably call the police if they figured out he was using an alias. He’d have to find a pharmacy in the morning but right now he needed to find a place to crash. He had enough to stay in a motel for two days or so but he’d probably jack a car or something, sleep in an abandoned parking lot.  
Stiles made sure he stayed off the main streets. He went through back streets and alleys trying to find a parking lot with little to no surveillance systems hoping lady luck would remain by his side a little longer. 

She didn’t.


	4. crimson eyes and short lived victories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles encounters way to many werewolves for one night and OMG, is that an Alpha?! He was so screwed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys! All the Kudos that got left on this story, it honestly made me so happy! Please do not hesitate to comment and let me know what you think or if I made mistakes somewhere let me know too !

Lady luck dumped him barely twenty minutes into their relationship.   
Honestly, he should have known it wouldn’t last long.

Stiles had found the perfect parking lot. Poor lighting and and no cameras.   
It was near a nightclub with flashy pink neon signs announcing the place was called “The Jungle”. 

He could count on one hand the amount of times he'd ever been to a club or even just to a party. And those times he'd only gotten to go because Ally somehow managed to convince Chris and Victoria to let him get out of the house.   
Mainly it was just a whole bunch of people with poor taste of judgement and a whole lot of alcohol, he’d been totally down with it.   
It was nice to forget about the clan or the supernatural for one evening. He'd kissed a guy for the first time at one of those lame student parties Allison had been invited to and had gotten him to come along.

Stiles pushed back the memories and focussed on the task at hand.  
He was looking for a car he could easily jack, when he heard loud voices approach behind him. 

Keep walking, keep walking, keep walking—  
“ Hey! Hey, you! ”   
Dammit! 

Stiles didn’t turn around hoping they would give up if he didn't react. No such thing.   
He could hear footsteps come closer. Three people, from their voices he could hear they were all men,… okay, he could handle it.   
Stiles turned around to face the three men.   
The one walking a head of the two others stopped about 5 steps away from him. 

“ Well look at what we got here. ” Jesus fuck, the guy looked strong enough to lift a car. Just his luck.

“ Were you trying to steal my fucking car? ” 

“ Wha— ? ” The other two guys reached them. “ Oh, I’m sorry I’m just little out of it. Mine looks just like that, you know what it is. You park your car somewhere and then you just can't seem to remember which is which anymore. ”   
The way the guy’s eyes roamed over him made uncomfortable, especially when he grinned. 

“ You’re cute I could forgive you, I could even help you find it if you give me a reward for it. ”   
That threw him off completely. He gaped at the three grinning men.

“ Uh…No, it’s okay. My, uh, boyfriend is about to get out here anyways, he’ll probably remember where we parked. ”

“ Oh, so you where in there? I didn’t see you. ” The guy’s eyes roamed over his body again effectively making him cringe in discomfort. “ I wish I did. I’m sure you looked so good shaking that pretty ass off yours. “ 

Oh, fuck. This was about to turn very bad.   
“ Listen, you either get the hell away from me or you’ll regret it big time. ” 

Their laughter faltered a little when he took out his gun and aimed at the first creep.   
“ Alright I am warning you one last time. ” 

“ Damn, Pretty Eyes likes to play rough.” The man joked making both of his friends laugh. “ Don't worry, so do we. ”   
The guy crouched and popped claws out. His eyes turned blue just like the two others.  
“ That won’t do anything to me. ”

Of-fucking-course they had to be werewolves! Stupid super strength and all.

“ Yeah? What about wolfsbane laced silver bullets, asshole? ”  
He knew he was nowhere near being able to get the better hand on three wolves. They’d be to fast. He wouldn’t get out of this one unharmed.   
He could see the guy getting ready to pound on him and braced himself when a low menacing growl surprised them. 

The growl resonated in the otherwise empty parking lot, shaking him to the core. He could swear he heard one of the men whimper. 

“ You are trespassing and breaking law on Hale territory. ” Stiles eyes fell on the frame of a man standing in the shadows where the lights barely worked, crimson eyes bore through his own whiskey coloured ones.

Sure he had met Alphas before and he’d witnessed their voice and authority stand out above others but never had it ever had any effect on him… until today that was.   
His face heat up at the stare of the stranger.   
“ You have 5 seconds to get out of my territory before I rip your throats out. “  
Stiles could listen to the Alpha's voice on repeat. 

He caught himself gaping and closed his mouth with a snap.   
Shouldn’t he be scared? How could he be turned on in such situation? Pull yourself together Stiles!  
The first guy seemed to be the only one able to regain some composure.   
“ Alright, we’re leaving but we’re taking Pretty Eyes here with us. ” 

In a flash the Alpha had the guy by his throat pushed against a car.   
Stiles hadn’t even seen him move. That was… fucking impressive.   
The two other wolves were already running away, apparently having no loyalty towards their buddy, while the Alpha held the guy down.   
From where he was Stiles couldn’t see him clearly, but he could see he was muscled, the mouthwatering kind of muscled. 

The man was a little taller than him and wore a black leather jacket no one living in this century should’ve been able to pull off. Stiles hadn’t even seen him clearly and he was already fantasising about how that jacked would look on the man’s naked body as he bend him over and—   
God, what the hell was wrong with him!? The guy was literally about to tear that other dick face’s throat out! Have some self control, Damn it! 

“ You don’t have to kill him. ”   
The Alpha gave him a side glance and just that managed to make him hot all over again. 

“ Would you like to take his place then, Hunter.” 

“ In a different context, maybe. ” Stupid brain to mouth filter !!! “ I-I meant…Uh…no? ” Stiles swallowed thickly. Good job Stiles! Just amazing!   
The Alpha let go of the wolf’s throat, who tried to flee but got held by the back of his neck before he could even take a step.   
“ Set foot in my territory again and I will continue where we left off. ”

The other wolf nodded his head frantically, taking off as soon as the Alpha released.  
Stiles was still looking at the spot where the guy disappeared when he felt the Alpha’s attention shift to him.   
The hair in the back of his neck stood up while a thrill ran down his spine. He instinctively aimed his gun at him.  
It didn’t matter how turned on he was by the show of dominance, the guy was still dangerous.   
An Alpha who caught an injured hunter on his territory. 

“ Who are you and what are you doing unannounced on Hale territory? ”

“ Hey, okay, look dude, I honest to God didn’t know about any territory. I’m only passing through.” 

“ You’re coming with me. ”

“ Uhm, I think not. ” The Alpha growled. “ Nah, really, it was nice and all meeting you and your… charming growls, but I gotta go. ”  
The Alpha’s growl got deeper and more threatening which didn’t help him calm down at all. The moment he saw his clawed hand reaching out to grab him and randomly swatted at it.   
He stared at the Alpha with wide eyes as he realised what he’d just done.   
The Alpha snarled and reached out again only to get swatted at again.

“ Do not test my patience Hunter, come willingly or I’ll make you. ” 

“ I politely decline your offer. See, there are so many things I haven’t done yet like getting a pet or getting trashed at somebody I don’t even know’s shitty party in New York, or you know I’ve always wanted to go to Disney World? I’ve never been there before! It would be cruel to not let me live my childhood dream. Also, I want to live to see tomorrow, I just don’t have any other choice but to do my own thing, just spread my wings and fly. ” Stiles maid a random flying motion with his free arm as he still held is gun up with the other.   
“ You let that other wolf go so I know you’re a good guy. Anyways it was really nice meeting you and all but it’s going to be a no for m—” 

The Alpha straight up roared at him.   
He thought he’d pissed his pants right then. In his panic he left an opening for the Alpha to grab his wrist.   
The contact of the Werewolf’s skin on his own felt like a bolt of electricity ran right through the spot he was touching.   
The Alpha paused for a second furrowing heavy brows at where their skin touched but then squeezed his wrist hurting him and forcing him to drop his gun. 

Stiles took out his combat knife with his free hand and dodged the Alpha’s next attempt at taking the knife away from him.   
The Alpha didn’t have an other choice than to let go of his hand to grab the knife out of his other allowing him to switch it from his left hand to his right one.   
The Alpha hit it out of the air effectively putting it out of reach. He gave a triumphant bark-like “ Ha! ” but his victory was short lived as Stiles made his second knife appear out of his back pocket. 

The Alpha’s eyes landed on his cheshire cat grin and wiggling eyebrows. 

That was the final straw.


	5. The Eyebrows of Inquisitions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I was going for a classic Derek S1 interrogation technique in this chapter. Just to bring back memories.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm having so much fun writing this story!  
> Thank you so much for the kudos! It means a lot <3  
> Comments are always welcome :)  
> Btw chapter 6 is nearly done too so It might get posted today too

Stiles had fought off the Alpha best he could but he was no match for him, especially not in his current state. 

He’d been forcefully hauled off the ground and slung over the Alpha’s shoulder, with backpack and all. And when the Alpha started running using what he liked to call Super-wolfy-speed, he stopped fighting all together feeling like he was going to get sick.  
At least he’d taken his combat knives and gun along. He was getting taken away to a certain death and he wasn’t even able to fight it because he was getting sick. That was ridiculous.  
  
Stiles didn’t even notice it when they entered a building he only noticed when the Alpha started walking up stairs in a “human-like” speed.  
The Alpha opened a heavy sliding door before throwing his backpack and weapons somewhere ignoring Stiles’ indignant “ Hey! be careful with my babies! ”.  
The Alpha put him down already expecting Stiles to fight him again as soon as he’d do so.

Stiles knew it was a very pathetic attempt but he was weakened.  
He was dehydrated and exhausted and the painkillers had completely worn off leaving his body heavy and painful, more so than it had already felt.  
When the Alpha manhandled him on to the ground holding his wrists above his head, Stiles gave up all resistance knowing he wasn’t going anywhere and glared back at the Alpha, wanting to make a point off how he wasn’t giving up to the asshole.  
For a second he forgot he was supposed to be glaring daggers at him.  
The man was… hot, as in really, really hot. Strong jaw line, stubble, world’s most expressive eyebrows currently frowning at him.  
The man’s dark hair looked like it would be so soft to touch. 

 

Once again the Alpha could smell the sweet addictive smell of the human underneath him.  
He’d needed only a whiff of the human’s sent to end up going completely off track on his last patrol through the city. He’d been looking for the supernatural creatures that had been ravaging the city for a week now without him or the pack ever getting a sight of them and got distracted when he smelled him.  
That beautiful careless idiot going up against three werewolves while hurt.  
  
He’d first caught his sent around the hospital’s parking lot then tracked it all the way through the backstreets of the shopping area his wolf grew more and more excited as he got closer to the source of the smell. This outcome had definitely not been in his plans for the night.  
His prey was hurt, he could smell the pain and fear clouding over the delicious smell of cinnamon, sugar and fresh morning dew. He’d followed the smell to the parking lot of the Jungle and found his beautiful prey right there defying the three omegas.  
The thrill he’d felt right at that moment only got diminished when he saw the younger man’s combat stance.  
Hunter.  
That snapped him back the the situation at hand when he smacked the rogue wolf against a car, ready to kill him for trying to touch what was his.  
The human's amazing smell of sweetness mixed with the spicy thang of arousal had made his mouth water just like it was now.  
He managed to get back to reality only because the human tried to wriggle himself out of his grip again. That one never seemed to give up. 

“ Who are you and what are you doing in my territory. ”  
“ I already told you I didn’t know about any territory! ” It didn’t matter how hard he pushed back the Alpha’s grip never faltered. The man gathered both his wrists in one of his own and gripped his jaw forcing him to look into his crimson eyes as he used his Alpha voice breaking his will to resist.  
“ Answer me. ” Stiles felt the pull of the voice tug deep into him.  
  
“ Stiles. ”  
  
“ The hell is a Stiles? ”  
  
“ That’s my name, you ass. ” Stiles turned his head away from the Alpha’s elongated teeth baring his throat in the process. The Alpha took in the sight and ignored the way his teeth seemed to ache for the human’s throat.  
  
“ What are you running from, Stiles. ” Stiles felt a thrill run down his spine when the wolf spoke out his name.  
  
“ Who says I’m on the run? ”  
  
“ You tried to jack a car and you travel with a backpack, idiot. ”  
  
“ Rude. ”  
  
“ Are you trying to get me to kill you? I won't repeat myself. ”  
Stiles gulped as the Alpha’s claws scraped the skin of his jaw.  
  
“ I’d rather not talk about it. ” The Alpha was now seriously wondering whether the younger man possessed any sense of self preservation.  
  
“ Do I look like I care what you want? You’re unannounced in my territory. I can kill you if I want too.”  
  
“ Do you? ”  
The man glared at him, expressive eyebrows threateningly low. The guy was so close Stiles could feel his breath on his skin. He couldn't help but let his eyes slide to the guys lips and even as he did so he could see how he did the same. Maybe there was hope after all?  
  
“ I am starting to think I do. ”  
Nope, no hope. Stiles started panicking when he felt the wolf’s claws applying pressure on his jaw.  
“ Talk. ”  
Stiles pressed his lips together. The Alpha gave an exaggerated eye roll and shifted in beta form before growling into his face.  
His voice broke when he spoke.  
“ I’m running from Gerard Argent. ”  
  
The Alpha seemingly got angrier at his answer.  
“ Don’t lie, your knifes carry the Argent’s crest. ”  
  
“ You listened to my heartbeat! You know I’m not lying! ”  
  
“ Argents don’t hunt Argents.”  
  
Stiles laughed at that, surprising both the Alpha and himself. Well, it was an unintentional nervous laugh but he startled an Alpha so he counted it as a personal win.  
“ I’m not and Argent. Gerard’s son Chris took me in when I was a kid but they hate me. Their men beat me up regularly and they treat me like shit. I’ve been wanting to leave for a long time I figured they’d eventually get annoyed and throw me out but Gerard decided it was better to kill me. Then this huge explosion happened and all the prisoners escaped. I took my chance and ran. ”  
  
The wolf knew Stiles wasn’t telling something.  
He lifted him up by his shirt and smacked him right back on the ground causing all air to escape his lungs.  
“ You’re not telling me the entire truth. ” Stiles got angry.  
  
“ What the hell do you want me to tell you, huh?! That two days before the explosion Ennis used me as his personal punching ball, Again!? That my sister looked on and didn’t even lift a finger? That that bitch, Kate, loved the show and never fails to join in on the fun? Or maybe you’d like to know that Crazy Old Satan himself never called me by my name: Get your useless dog, Chris! he says. Oh wait! Maybe you’d want me to describe to you in detail how Gerard has manipulated everyone, and now the Argents forgot their own code and are mutilating and hunting innocents for no other reason than them being different?! The fuck do you want me to tell you, huh?! I'm not the little soldier Gerard wanted me to be so now Gerard wants me dead. I didn’t have any other choice but to save myself! I got the prisoners out, I talked Ally into blowing up the artillery and I shot those hunters! I harmed the clan and now I’ll never be safe anywhere so I’m doing the only thing I can do at this point, I run! ” 

The Alpha stared at the hyperventilating human underneath him.   
  
He had heard about the bounty on the famous Red Riding put up by the Argents a couple days ago, the word had spread like a wildfire.   
The ones that escaped that night told stories on how Red Riding shot three hunters to save a young werewolf, like always no one knew where he came from nor where he disappeared to afterwards.   
Never had he imagined this was what Red Riding would look like.   
A scrawny, sarcastic little shit of a human with a challenging mouth, smelling like the best thing he’d ever smelled and… currently having a panic attack.   
  
Shit.


	6. You are infuriating.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was ridiculously dangerous but fuck it, all he wanted was to taste the Alpha’s lips so that’s what he did.

Stiles couldn’t breath anymore. His throat felt like it was getting squeezed shut by shards.  
He could taste the metallic tang of blood in his mouth and feel how his eyes filled with tears, blurring his vision as he fought and gasped to get air. 

The Alpha picked the human up and ran over to the bathroom. He barely used the one downstairs and had even thought of getting rid of it but was glad he never got to it. He kicked open the door and turned open the shower on the coldest stand, then pushed the human into the stream hoping he’d be surprised enough to let his lungs automatically gasp for air. 

 

As soon as the freezing water poured over him the younger man gasped taking in too much air. He coughed and struggled against the Alpha’s grip, flailing and splashing water everywhere.  
The wolf pulled him out of the shower before pushing him onto the cold bathroom tiles with just one of his huge hands held in the middle of his chest. 

“ Breathe.”

Stiles coughed the water out of his lungs and panicked as he still failed to take in air.  
The Alpha flashed his eyes at him and he stilled completely, holding his breath, staring into his deep crimson eyes. 

“ Stiles, breathe.”

The Alpha’s eyes where still holding his gaze as Stiles concentrated on mimicking his exaggerated breathing. He slowly managed to calm down and breathe normally. The wolf’s hand was the only source of warmth against his freezing body.  
They where both drenched, but while the wolf’s sticky clothes hugged his muscled torso providing Stiles with an exclusive view on amazing abs, Stiles on the other hand felt like a drenched chihuahua. 

He took in the other male’s body, feeling a mix of shame and lust crippling up his spine that made his face turn bright pink. It took a while before he managed to tear away his gaze and dared to look the alpha in the eye again. 

The wolf seemed to take that as a green light to pick him up like some kind of tired bag of potatoes officially destroying the few crumbles of pride he still might have had.  
He didn’t have the energy to fight the wolf anymore. His arms felt heavy, his body was aching and the pain in his ankle was near unbearable. 

The were carried him back to a kitchen and dropped the human on the countertop. Stiles stared blankly at him while he dropped an extremely fluffy towel into his lap and a first aid kit right next to him. His look went from the fluffy towel back to the Alpha.  
How could such a broody man own something this soft… 

“ Shut up and dry yourself. ” 

Oh, did he say that out loud?

“ You still are. ” 

Stiles automatically rubbed the towel over himself.

“ What are you-? No, just—First take your clothes off, then use the towel. ”  
The man rolled his eyes then gave a frustrated half-sight-half-growl grabbing the towel from Stiles’ hands.

“ Rude. ”

“ Shut up, Stiles. ” 

He helped him out of his shirt and jeans then dried his hair first before handing him the towel again. 

Stiles was staring at the wolf not comprehending what on earth was going on.  
He looked at the man again only to see him stare back at him eyebrows impossibly high.  
Clearly he was expecting something of him.

“ Dry. Yourself. ” 

Stiles’ lips made a silent “ Oh! ” before he proceeded to dry himself again. He watched as the werewolf fished out an ice pack from the freezer in the back of his kitchen. The wolf seated himself on a chair in front of him and reached for his ankle. Stiles tried to scurry away from his touch but the Alpha flashed his eyes in a warning once again rendering his body completely still. He couldn’t for the life of him comprehend how the Alpha had such power on him. He was human plus he was Red Riding for fucks sake! In all the years he’d had to deal with werewolves, along with that some real deal macho Alphas, that shit had never even worked on him! 

The Alpha once again reached for his injured ankle and Stiles was tempted to move away again just to make a point of how he wasn’t submitting to him, but the wolf's’ eyes where already on him before he even made a move. 

He could swear he saw a hint of a mocking smile on the wolf’s face but got distracted from it when Ice got put on his swollen ankle. Pain shot through his ankle as he once again tried to move it away from the wolf’s grip. The wolf’s free hand grabbed and squeezed under his inner thigh making heat pool low in his stomach and spread over his upper body. The Alpha’s voice resonated in the room.

“ Sit still. ” 

Stiles was both afraid and aroused by him, which lead to a whole lot of confusion from his brain and underbody. 

The wolf’s nostrils flared smelling the sweet addictive smell of the human’s arousal. The additional tang of spice to the humans sweet scent made his canines ache to come out. 

For a second Stiles could see a flash of red in the man's kaleidoscope eyes but it disappeared right away.  
The wolf focused his attention back on the task at hand rubbing the cream in his hands. As soon as Stiles saw it change colours in the Alpha’s hands he started trying to get away again. That was definitely not a normal bruising cream. 

“ Hold on, what's that? ”

“ Do you ever just sit still? ”

Stiles glared at the wolf but it didn’t seem to have any effect. The man started applying the balm onto his swollen ankle. Stiles half held his breath expecting it to hurt but it didn’t. As a matter of fact the pain slowly left his ankle. Stiles just hung his head back and let out a relieved sight not seeing how the Alpha’s eyes followed his slender exposed neck.  
Stiles pulled his head back up missing the way the Alpha averted his gaze back to his ankle.  
He observed the Alpha’s square jaw, wondered how the stubble on it would feel on his skin. His gaze fell on the Alpha’s strong forearms and how the muscles in it moved, then watched how his hands worked. They looked strong and big and why was he imagining sucking on his fingers?

Even though he was happy with the situation, he still didn’t understand why the werewolf was even caring for him.

“ How long have you been walking around with this? ”  
  
“ Why do you even care? ”  
  
“ I don’t. ”  
Stiles rolled his eyes.  
  
“ About five days maybe six. I thought a werewolf would never help an Argent. ”

“ Didn’t you say you weren’t an Argent.” 

Well yeah, that was true but the way he’d said it made it sound like he was mocking him.  
“ Or maybe you’re just soft. ”

Stiles experienced instant regret when the wolf squeezed his hurt ankle. A high pitched whimper left his throat and tears sprung in his eyes as he tried to pry the wolfs hand away without any success. The Alpha stood up towering above him, crimson eyes pierced themselves into his own whiskey brown ones. 

“ Please… please, it hurts. ” 

The Alpha released his grip on his ankle when he heard his plea, but his face was dangerously close and that did nothing to clear out all the confused signals Stiles was getting. If anything he was now having a mental fight with Stiles jr. trying to not get an awkward boner.  
The Alpha’s nose thrills flared as he closed his eyes seemingly having a mental fight with himself too. Probably wondering whether he should really keep him alive.  
Stiles lowered his head bearing his throat to the Alpha wolf.

The man went silent for a moment not understanding how the human could stand up to him and defy him and still manage to show him submission and melt under his touch so easily as he now resumed to taking care of his injuries.  
What would the human smell like, if he put his teeth on his bared throat, would he submit like he was right now? The man snapped himself out of it.  
“ As soon as you'll be healed you can go hide where ever it is that you had planned to hide.”  
“ I'm not hiding, I'm putting as much possible distance between me and a disturbed blood-craving psychopath. ”  
The human seemed sure of himself but he’d heard how his heart beat had sped up and already knew he had nowhere to go.  
He finished applying the balm but could still smell the pain on the human. He didn’t like the smell. He laid his hand on the double sized ankle and started taking the remaining pain away.

Stiles frowned when he felt the pain shoot away faster. He looked down at the man’s hands and saw black running up his veins.  
  
“ Wha... What is this? What are you doing? ”  
  
“ I told you to stop struggling. I’m taking your pain. ”  
  
Soon the pain was completely gone and only the warmth of the wolfs hand remained slowly spreading over his whole leg making his cold shivering body lean closer towards him to get more of the warmth his body was radiating.

The movement didn’t escape the Alpha and neither did the smell of Stiles' arousal getting stronger by the second effectively driving his wolf crazy.  
“ You are infuriating. ” His gaze lingered on the humans sinful looking pink lips. That mouth, always talking. He had a very vivid image of what the human’s lips would look like around him, unable to talk back with his sarcastic comments.  
He tore his gaze away from them just in time to see Stile’s gaze doing the same thing then flutter back up to his eyes and open wide like a deer caught in headlights. Those big brown eyes reminding him of said prey. 

The tension in the very small space between the two of them was now overwhelming.  
Stiles knew the wolf had caught him staring, figured he could probably smell his arousal and knew that what he was about to do was both dangerous and stupid but he had escaped death, ran around in the forest for 6 days and didn’t know what was going on with his body nor why all he seemed to be wanting to do was to touch the broody man scowling at him.  
He wanted to scrape his teeth on the man’s stubble and feel his rough big hands squeeze places other than his injured ankle.   
It was ridiculously dangerous but fuck it, all he wanted was to taste the Alpha’s lips so that’s what he did.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be Sexy times!


	7. What's the synonym for " I'm so screwed right now" ?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles smelled like home, he could smell it so clearly… the smell of Mate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings Sterek Lovers! Welcome back!  
> Okay so... I feel like I'm being a tease with this chapter but it was needed because of where I want to go with the story.

The Alpha’s response was immediate.  
  
He snarled into their kiss and deepened it and while Stiles hooked his fingers in his dark hair, pulled him towards him over the counter top.   
Stiles needed him closer, he wanted to be closer to the source of warmth and lust and need and total perfection overwhelming him with the need to touch him and feel him against his skin. The alpha scooped him up and carried him up a spiral staircase, never stopping the assault on his lips.  
  
He held on to the man’s broad shoulders to steady himself and felt only muscles, absolutely nothing to help him get control of the situation going on in his pants.  
He got dropped onto a king sized bed with dark silk covers.The kind that makes you feel like you’re sleeping on a cloud. The kind you read about in fairytales but those tales never spoke of hot like the sun Alpha werewolves with glowering crimson eyes staring at you like you’re about to be devoured.   
Stiles whimpered at the sight and felt his dick throb.  
  
The man moved slowly, the moves of a predator headed for his prey. It should have scared him, really it should have but it didn’t, instead it gave him a thrill.  
Somehow he knew he was safe right underneath him. He hadn’t felt safe in years, the feeling was overwhelming.   
How could he feel like that when he just met the guy?  
  
The man’s eyes were human when he reached him but never lost their their reddish tint. They both stared at each other, taking in the view of the other.  
Stiles decided he couldn’t care less if he’d die tonight, at least he wasn’t going to die a virgin.  
He took in every single detail he could as he let his fingers scrape at the nape of the man's neck. He looked at how the man's half lidded eyes threatened to close completely. He let his other hand trace over the man's jaw feeling the stubble and going down to the man's broad shoulders. 

He pulled on the man’s henley.  
“ Take it off. ”  
  
“ Don’t order me around. ”  
  
“ Then don’t make me wait. ”  
The Alpha growled at that but took his henley off anyways, revealing abs to die for. Stiles openly stared at him.  
  
“ You like what you see, little human? ”  
Stiles nodded his head at loss for words.  
  
“ So you do know how to shut up. ”  
  
“ Wha—!”  
Whatever he was about to say after that got forgotten when the wolf crashed their mouths together. It was a wild kiss one with the promise of what was to come next.  
Stiles gladly gave into it and pulled on the wolfs hair earning himself a low rumbling growl and God, that was hot! The wolf gave a thrust with his hips grinding on his throbbing cock and earning himself a moan so beautiful that it sounded like music to his ears.  
  
“ Unfair! ”  
  
The man chuckled and started kissing his way down.  
  
“ How am I not being fair to you? Tell me, Stiles.”  
  
The way he slurred his name out must have been the most filthy thing Stiles had ever heard. He was so turned on right now.   
The Alpha sucked at a spot on his hip bone, making his breath hitch.  
  
“ D-don’t say my name like that. ”  
  
“ How am I saying it, Stiles? ”  
  
“ You know damn well what I mean. ” The man literally licked his happy trail. “ Oh fuck! ” Then resumed to scraping his teeth and leaving his marks on his way back up.  
Stiles’ entire body was thrumming with want, shivering with anticipation at every touch or squeeze of the Alpha. He didn’t want this to ever end, wasn’t above begging the man for it with Please-don’t-stops and Yes-keep-goings. He’d never had someone else to do this with but he was pretty sure the way heat pulsed under his skin at every touch of the wolf and how his entire body responded to the wolfs commands thrumming with anticipation like the pulse of his heartbeat wasn’t a normal thing.   
It couldn’t be, this kind of heat and destructive want, the primitive need for the Alpha to just fuck him already.  
  
What was happening to him? He felt like… a bitch in heat.  
And sure enough the wolf gave a low appreciative rumble so he knew he said that out loud.  
“ Oh, Shut u-Ooh my God! ” 

The Alpha felt a rush of pleasure at Stiles’ words.  
He actively sucked on a beautifully pink perking nipple and had to hold Stiles down when he started writhing. The human’s smell was just intoxicating.  
He’d never known such an intoxicating smell could ever exist.  
He let go of the over stimulated nipple to reached the hollow of Stiles neck and start scenting him while still giving slow thrusts with his hips and savouring the moans he got from his little human.  
The way the human’s smell of arousal mixed with his own was simply amazing. He smelled right with his sent on him, the smell of wolfsbane and gunpowder was still there but barely noticeable anymore. Instead he could smell Stiles’ scent of cinnamon and sugar mixing with his own smell of forest and it was perfect, maybe even complete. He sounded like an idiot to himself but Stiles smelled like a day of staying in and drinking hot chocolate looking at the rain outside, He smelled like lazy mornings, breathless laughter and home.   
Stiles smelled like home, he could smell it so clearly now… the smell of Mate. 

 

As soon as the Alpha realised that his fangs broke through against his own volition.  
He rushed off of him, feeling like he was tearing off his own body from his soul.  
That was the feel of a bond.... He had been ready to claim Stiles, against his will. Fuck.

Stiles felt like all the warmth had been ripped of his body when he climbed off of him like he’d been burned. He couldn’t stop the whimper that left his throat at the Alpha’s missing warmth. His entire body ached and shivered from it.  
  
“ What’s going on? Are you okay? D-did I do something? ”  
  
“ Go to sleep. ”  
The sharp well known sting of insecurity and shame wash over him at the wolf’s rejection.  
  
“ I-I don’t understand. ”  
The wolf turned to a huge black tinted wardrobe and took out a shirt and some sweatpants and boxers and left them on the bed then grabbed his discarded clothes and headed for the door.  
“ I’ll sleep on the couch downstairs, you can take the bed. The door on the left leads to the bathroom. ”  
  
Stiles didn’t feel the burn of tears until the door closed behind the man, leaving him alone in an unknown bedroom.  
He fought back his tears not wanting to feel more pathetic than he already did and wondering what the hell he’d been thinking getting freaky with an Alpha werewolf he’d just met.  
He didn’t know how long it took him to come back to his senses but when he did he felt more like crap than he had in a long time.  
Stiles reached out for the clothes and went to take a shower.  
And if tears left his eyes while he was under the scaling hot stream of water, nobody would have to know. 

Derek sat down on his sofa with his head held between his hands as he forced his wolf back down.  
“ Shit. ”   
What was he thinking! How could he have let this happen? But it had felt so right, they had felt so right, smelled so right, he’d fitted perfectly against him and it had even hurt when he’d let go. Stiles was the very first person in years with whom he’d actually felt lust, felt the actual need to mark him and lose himself in him even before he saw how beautiful he was writhing and moaning underneath him. He’d melted under his touch and it had been fascinating, borderline addictive.  
  
It had felt like he’d found something he hadn’t even known he’d been looking for.  
He wanted him, he wanted him so bad.  
His claws were digging into the arms of his favorite sofa to try and physically restrain him from going back upstairs. He’d never had to fight his wolf over something before, he was a born wolf, they were in sync, but now the wolf was clawing at the surface urging him to get back upstairs and claim his mate while he put all of his weight down to keep himself from moving.  
  
His mate. He couldn’t believe his luck.  
Of course his mate would be a hunter. And out of all it had to be the Argents. What a sick joke.  
He could already hear Cora and Peter give him shit about it… that was if they ever spoke to him again.   
He knew how Stiles felt about the Argents he could smell the anxiety, fear and anger coming of off him before he had his panic attack but would that matter to the pack? It did to him but with his romantic history, he doubted any of them would take it well even if he suspected Stiles to be Red Riding. They already viewed him as a terrible Alpha, but there was no way he could keep his wolf away from his mate.   
They all knew how bad that could turn out for a wolf.  
He listened to the human… Stiles… his mate’s heartbeat and significantly calmed down.

Yup, he was completely and utterly fucked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FalalalaImsosorryforbeingateaselalala


	8. Bad Luck's Chew Toy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why can't Derek have nice things?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys ! I'm sorry it took a little while.  
> I got exams going on and somehow I had to rewrite this chapter a bazillion times because I was never satisfied.  
> But it lead to me already working on the next chapter so that one should be posted next weekend without problems.

Stiles had barely slept.  
You’d think after his light stroll through the woods he’d be in a well deserved two days long coma but apparently a little rest was to much to ask for.  
He didn’t know how many times he had jolted awake haunted by images of Gerard killing him in several different ways as Kate’s blood chilling laugh kept echoing in his nightmares. He saw himself shooting at the guards and killing them no matter how hard he focused on hitting non-vital points. In his nightmares one thing remained the same, he never saved the prisoners.  
He couldn’t trust his own dreams anymore. 

Somehow the smell of the Alpha surrounding him made him feel a little better, just a little, just enough to make him want to hold tighter to the cushion and inhale the smell until he gave himself an asthma attack from it.  
The smell of eggs and beacon quickly made him forget that thought.  
He hadn’t realised how hungry he was, he didn’t want to leave his new found piece of heaven but his growling stomach convinced him otherwise. Stiles carefully slid off the silk covers and tried to leave the room without making a noise.  
  
The Alpha’s bed room was spacious and didn’t seem to really hold any personality. It only contained a huge wooden wardrobe with those fancy smoked glass sliding doors, a nightstand, a laundry basket and the king size bed he’d gotten out off.  
The room was spotless, so... either he was a grumpy dust-your-stress-away wolf or he was a psychopath who cleaned up his entire house like psychopaths do after they murder their victims in cold blood. Anything else seemed unrealistic.  
  
He fist bumped the air when the door opened without making a sound and proceeded to limp into the hallway as silently as he could with his injured ankle. Stealth mood.  
He got close to the top of the spiralling metal staircase that led downstairs and peeked down only the find the wolf looking right back at him with one very expressive eyebrow raised and the ghost of a smirk hidden behind what he could smell was coffee. 

Stiles heart skyrocketed, and that was definitely because he got caught trying to sneak up on the Alpha, yup, not at all because of how illegally hot the guy was in broad daylight.  
Stiles cleared his throat and hoped his embarrassment would pass as a reaction to being caught rather than getting blinded by the man.  
He managed to make it down stairs with mild flailing and no other injuries.  
Stiles noticed the plate of scrambled eggs and beacon sitting across from the wolf, still warm and obviously waiting for him. Meaning the wolf had known he was awake and lured him out with the food.  
Stealth mood my ass! He never would have been able to sneak up on the hot bastard to begin with. 

He wasn’t sure whether or not Stiles would have tried but had not even been slightly disappointed when he’d seen the way Stiles’ eyes had open wide upon realising he had been caught trying to sneak up on him.  
Stiles grumbled a thank you and took a seat at the bar table across from the wolf who had been waiting for him. He hesitantly looked at the man in front of him waiting for any sign that he’d take the plate away before tearing into it. 

The man stared while he devoured the plate like a hungry teenage beta. He’d told him yesterday that he’d been walking through the forest for days. What on earth had he been eating? Was this his first decent meal since then?  
He could smell Stiles’ exhaustion and stress. Clearly he wasn’t the only one who hadn’t slept well but Stiles’ smell was deep and he could see how unhealthy he looked.  
His wolf whined, wanting to provide and care for its mate and he was man enough to admit that Stiles’ condition didn’t sit well with him at all but he didn’t really know if he could control himself around him.  
Just seeing the way the human licked his fingers, chasing the taste of beacon on them, already made him feel like his clothes where to tight on him.  
He pushed the bread basket towards Stiles whose eyes followed the movement. 

Stiles threw a puzzled look at the wolf.  
Wolves didn’t help hunters… but then again wolves didn’t get cosy with them either so—.  
The events of last night played in his head and he found himself blushing. He hesitated a second before taking a piece of bread out of the basket.  
“ So… Do you have a name, Sourwolf? ”  
  
The Alpha couldn’t help but snort at that.  
Stiles lifted an eyebrow in a perfect imitation of the man in front of him.  
“ Well you know, it’s not like I got a name last night when you were trying to chew my head of so I had to improvise a little. I was thinking Sourwolf, The Growler, Grumpy wolf, Lord commander of the Eyebrows,…”  
  
Stiles saw the scowl on the wolfs face and decided that Sourwolf was a perfect fit.  
The wolf grunted knowing that Stiles’ grin meant he’d hear more of those ridiculous nicknames out of Stile’s equally ridiculous list.  
  
“ Okay so I’ll start. I’m Stiles, nice to meet you. ”  
  
“ Derek. Not so sure if it is nice to meet you. ”  
  
“ Rude. ” The wolf’s only response was to roll his eyes. “ Anyways, you kinda saved my ass yesterday. You also kidnapped me and threw me around a little, but hey, you did that weird Alpha-mojo thing to heal me so we’re good. I’ll just be on my way.”  
  
“ Don’t call it that and you’re not healed, I only took your pain away.”  
  
“ Have you seen me walk all the way from your room till here? I’m fine.”  
Derek gave him an unimpressed look.  
  
“ Stiles, you didn't walk, you limped. I can hear you’re lying and I smell you’re in pain. ”  
Stiles tried to ignore the way his name sounded on Derek’s lips.  
  
“ Did no one ever tell you it is not okay to use your super wolf powers on innocent bystanders? ”  
  
“ I already told you, you can leave when you’re healed. Right now you’re in no condition to go anywhere. ”  
  
Stiles’ frustration grew fast. He didn't have time for this. His nightmares were still fresh in the back of his mind. He had to put as much distance possible between him and Gerard and he couldn’t do that if Mr hot and broody, over here, wouldn’t let him leave.  
Derek was already standing to leave, reaching for his cup off coffee, clearly making an end to the conversation when Stiles was nowhere near done.  
Before he could think about how dangerous it was to actually force himself onto a werewolf he found his hand grabbing said werewolf’s forearm. 

Derek’s eyebrows shot up, nearly reaching his hair line, as he looked at Stiles then glared at his hand currently preventing him from peacefully enjoying his coffee.  
Did this kid really have no self preservation?  
He could feel his wolf lean into the touch but held back any show of emotion betraying it on his face. This was dangerous, his mate barely touches him and he’s already lost focus on anything else but him. 

Stiles knew staying too long in the same place was a dumb plan and so was rilling up an Alpha but he still did it.  
“ And who are you to tell me what I can or can not do? ”  
  
At first Stiles thought he might have imagined saying it because the Alpha didn’t give him an answer, only kept his eyes closed, probably collecting the thinned out will he had to not kill him. Still, no one stands still for so long. Should he check on the guy?  
He was about to say something else but all he managed was a sharp intake of breath when the Alpha's eyes zeroed in on him.  
Oh… shit.  
  
Stiles’ heart felt like it was going to jump out of his chest at the look the Alpha gave him.  
Heat spread through his body like the crimson fire in Derek's eyes rendering Stiles unable to detach his eyes from his piercing gaze.  
“ I am the Alpha. ”  
  
He could feel his entire body react to the Alpha’s voice. The hair in the back of his neck stood up at the burst of power coming off of him, his pants were to tight and that was a problem because that was definitely not how his body was supposed to react to getting glared at.  
He was not falling for that again. Nope, no way.  
The Alpha stalked towards him and he willed himself not to back down keeping both feet firmly planted on the ground. 

Derek’s warning growl could've probably scared off an entire town but Stiles’ reaction was nothing like he expected it to be. When the night before he had been able to scare the human with just this, now all he could smell was the strong hit of his arousal invading his senses. It annoyed him, incapacitated him to think of anything else but chase that scent.  
  
“ Subdue. ”  
  
His voice barely sounded human, it was more of a snarl than anything else and still, Stiles’ eyes never left his, instead he scoffed and crossed his arms and his glare hardened as his chin went up in defiance, directly challenging the Alpha.  
His wolf’s reaction came right away.  
  
Mate. Claim. Now.  
  
Derek tried to resist, he had spent an entire night reasoning with his wolf, convincing them both that they couldn’t just claim Stiles, that Stiles was a rogue hunter and them getting close was dangerous. All that crumbled away, all because Stiles’ didn't know how to back down or apparently when it was appropriate to be aroused or not.  
On top of that he was wearing his clothes and the mix of them together was too strong, hypnotic even with the tick smell of his arousal adding fuel to the fire. He couldn’t feel anything else but the need to make his mate smell more like the both of them, make his mate his.  
  
Derek tried to push him away, scare him by snarling again but he knew, he knew when Stiles’ tongue peaked out to lick his lower lip, making it look so sinfully wet, that there was no resisting him. He knew when he could feel the prick of his canines treating to break through, that he wanted his mark right on that clear patch of skin at the junction between Stiles' neck and shoulder. He knew when the hair on his forearms rose at a second wave of arousal coming off Stiles and the glint of excitement in his whiskey brown eyes that nothing else mattered more. 

 

Everything happened too fast.  
It took Derek two steps to reach Stiles who yelped indignantly as he got thrown over his shoulder caveman style.  
He managed to keep it together long enough to get them both to his bedroom, nearly losing his balance when Stiles pulled his hair and bit his jaw leaving marks and wild kisses on his skin he wished would stay longer.  
  
He ripped off the clothes Stiles had been wearing pausing only to stare at the way the moles on his body seemed to map out the way to secret treasures only for his eyes to see and his lips to follow. He made sure to store into his memory the way it felt to have Stiles dragging his nails over his back as soon as he pulled his henley off and how he hissed at Derek for going to slow then moaned right after when he palmed his dick.  
He’d found himself obliging to any and all of Stiles’ desires and needs.  
Stiles pulled on his lower lip with his teeth, rendering their kiss messy and uncoordinated. He hadn’t even know if he had been the one sounding more like an animal or Stiles, couldn’t distinguish his own heartbeat from Stiles’.  
  
They were an uncontrolled crescendo on their way to what announced itself to be a climax to never be forgotten. He felt great for the first time in years.  
So of course it had to be ruined.  
Why?  
Well, Because Derek is Bad Luck’s favourite chew toy of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cue Isaac


	9. Tip the scales in Derek's favour for once? Pretty Please?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the cherry on top?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all crack me up with your comments! It's really the best thing to come home too!  
> For those who've just joined this fic: Welcome to feelings and angst 101! Where we hate feelings but can't seem to avoid them!  
> For those who came back for more: You guys give me life! Woop Woop !

Derek should have heard it before or at least felt it.  
He always knew it when someone was close by, especially pack. He’d been so infatuated with Stiles that he only realised Isaac was near when he was already climbing up the stairs to the last floor of the building.  
“ Isaac? Fuck.” He’d jumped off the bed and gotten into the bathroom in less than a second, he didn’t have the time to explain to Stiles why he was throwing himself under Shampoo and body spray. He got back into the room and gave him a pained look trying to put his thoughts in it and miserably falling to do so. Stiles was spread out and so ready for him, looking so beautiful even as he blinked in pained confusion at him.  
“ Just, wait here… give me a minute. ”  
He grabbed some dirty clothes out of the laundry bag hoping it would cover the smell of what he’d been up to and rushed down stairs where Isaac was already calling his name, opening the heavy sliding doors to his loft.

Stiles stared at Dereks bedroom door.  
What the-?  
His blank confusion melted into boiling anger, because What. The. Hell?!  
Did Derek seriously do this again?! Why?  
Stiles’ head filled with questions not helping with his rising anger.  
Why on earth would an Alpha go through this much trouble to cover his smell or even stop at the occasion to take something he so obviously wanted? And who the fuck was Isaac?  
Pain shot through his chest as one thought dug it self in his head.  
Was…was Isaac his lover?  
Stiles had seen the way Derek reacted to him, he knew werwolves were prone to mark what they wanted, especially Alpha’s, and from the way Derek’s teeth constantly ghosted over his skin, he figured Derek was no exception. But why would he willingly stop himself from doing so?  
An Alpha wouldn’t back down from this kind of situation, especially not twice, if it wasn’t for an other lover.  
Stiles had had enough of this. Screw that stupid stupid Stupid pull in his chest!  
It didn’t matter if he felt like the world would crumble under his feet if he left right now, it didn’t matter if tears where blurring his vision, he didn’t want to know why his body felt like it was revulsed at the thought of leaving just because Derek had managed to get under his skin in a little less than 24 hours. He was leaving, and he was leaving now.  
Stiles started to look for his clothes and back pack but couldn’t find them anywhere in the room so he grabbed Derek’s Shirt and found one of his stray combat shoes. The shirt was to big and it came a little above his knees but it would do just fine until he found his own clothes.

 

“ The Pack meeting is this Friday night. You and Scott can go to the movies Saturday. You’ve already missed the last one and the pack hasn’t shown up for training in weeks. There’s still a threat out there and we don’t even know what it is.” Derek could hear Stiles rummaging upstairs and in the short time he had known the human he knew that couldn’t mean anything good. He smelled Stiles’ anger before he even got out of the bedroom and had to suppress his own wince at the strength of it. He hoped he could get Isaac out before anything happened.  
Up till now Isaac had only twisted his nose at the chemical smells covering him and hadn’t paid attention to the lingering smell of arousal on him nor the stranger’s smell mixed with his own in the loft, so maybe he still had time to salvage the situation. That thought died when he saw his beta lift his eyes to the top of the spiral staircase behind him, he knew he was done for it.  
Isaac had always been the best of his betas at smelling and sensing the emotions on someone. He’d felt Stiles anger before the human even appeared. Derek was proud of how well Isaac had developed his senses but right now he wished he was still as bad at it as he used to be when he’d just gotten turned.

 

Unlike Erica, Lydia, Cora and Creepy Peter, Isaac had never doubted Derek’s ability to get laid, a guy who looked like that probably had tons of people who’d be more than willing to spend a night with him, even with his constant glaring, but just like the others he had never gotten any confirmation of it. Derek always managed to keep that part of his life separated from Pack business, that was until today.  
His eyes fell on a stunning short haired brunette. The guy was obviously looking for his clothes, unaware that he was out in the open. Probably to angry to notice it. It was the first time Isaac had ever seen one of Derek’s catches stay the night. Moles dotted his face, forearms and the entirety of his lean legs visible from under what he recognised as one of Derek’s henley shirts seemingly to big for him as it fell low enough to hide that he was probably not wearing any underwear.  
“ Isaac, I’ll see you and the pack Friday night. ” But Isaac barely heard it. There was something about the stranger that gave him a familiar feel, like… pack? He wasn’t sure, he didn’t know the brunette, he never even saw him before today. He tried to catch the guys sent but got much more than what he bargained for.  
Now Isaac could smell it. The smell of frustrated arousal coming off of Derek under the mantel of soap, industrial shower gel and body spray. He realised exactly what he’d interrupted and couldn’t hold back a knowing smirk from showing on his face.  
“ Derek, there’s a guy looking for his clothes up there and I’m guessing he’s not wearing anything under your shirt… Dude, what’s that about? ”  
Derek always hated how Scott’s stupid way of saying dude in every single one of his sentences seemed to be rubbing off on Isaac.  
“ It’s nothing Isaac, leave.”

Stiles froze when he heard someone describe him at first he felt really embarrassed at getting caught but when Derek said “ It’s nothing ” he once again felt anger well up in him with so much force he turned around, ignoring the pain that shot through his ankle as he did so and aimed right at Derek.

Derek thought he’d imagined it but the surprise and slight fear in Isaac’s wide eyes convinced him other wise. He was about to turn around when a second shoe hit him again right in the middle of his back making him stumble forwards a little. After Stiles’ satisfied little “ Hmpf! ” there was nothing else to be heard than his limping away. Derek closed his eyes as he tried and failed to regain some composure.  
“ Dude… he even threw his second shoe. That doesn’t look like nothing to me.”  
Derek glared Alpha red eyes at him.  
“ Isaac… ” Isaac’s smile faltered and it hurt him to see so clearly how fear showed in his eyes.  
“ I’m just… gonna go. ”  
Isaac took a couple steps back before turning around to leave.

Derek didn’t wait for him to be out. He stormed back up stairs to his bedroom, where Stiles was finishing to put on sweat pants he probably found in his wardrobe, and pinned him against the wall.  
He’d have expected him to fight back, to struggle or at least to flail like he seemed to be doing so often but the human just looked him straight in the face not a trace of fear, only contained anger and determination.  
Derek remembered then that Stiles was used to regular beatings by the Argents.  
“ Why don’t you go a head, Derek? You’ve already used me for your stupid little games, why not beat me up? Does your lover even know what you’ve been up to? ”  
Derek frowned.  
“ Lover? I don’t have a lover, what are you talking about? ”  
He’d left Stiles in the middle of it twice now, no wonder he’d think he was playing games but where did that lover thing come from?  
“ Yeah, sure Derek. You know what? It doesn’t even matter because like you said; It’s nothing! This.” Stiles made a random hand gesture between the two of them. “Is nothing so, I’m leaving. Now let go, Fido. ”  
Derek gritted his teeth at Stiles dog reference.  
“ Don’t ever call me that again. ”  
That didn’t seem to stop Stiles from snorting as he replied right away with his ever so present sarcasm.  
“ What ever, Der-bear.”  
“ I swear to God you must be the most annoying person to walk this earth. ”  
“ Well I was leaving anyways, now let go of me so I can be on my way. ”  
Derek sighted and let go of Stiles but still crowded him against the wall.  
“ Stiles, you’re still hurt, you can’t even walk straight. And I can smell the pain on you from when you threw your shoes at me. ”  
“ You deserved it, so screw you! I can go where ever I fucking want to and that means nowhere near you or your stupid face! ”  
Derek prayed for which ever entity listening to grant him patience, trying to ignore Stiles repeatedly stabbing his finger in his chest.  
He knew Stiles expected him to treat him the same way everyone else ever had. He was challenging him to prove him he was right and up till now he hadn’t done much to convince him other wise.

 

Derek was just about done with his infuriating human mate. He had once again manhandled Stiles over his shoulder ignoring his protests. Those came with accompanied skilful flailing and efficiently wore thin the little patience he had left as Stiles made it his life goal to hit him anywhere he could reach. Derek growled and changed Stiles position to bridal style.  
“ Wha—! No! No, Stop! This is worse than the caveman carrying! I said stop, you dick! I’ve fought jerks bigger than you, Derek! Are you even listening? Where the hell are you taking me?! ”  
" I'm taking you to get your ankle checked."  
When Stiles realised that Derek was on his way out of the building he started fighting back harder. “You are not carrying me outside like that! Put. Me. Down! DOWN! ”  
That was all the patience he had left. Derek let go without warning forcing Stiles to figure it out himself while he kept walking without glancing back.  
Stiles lost his balance and fell. He glared at the Alpha’s back as he yelled “ Screw you, Derek! ” before trying to stand back up.  
Derek just left the hunters’ shoes in the back of the camaro then leaned onto it to glare at him.  
He watched as Stiles performed the weirdest and most inelegant turtle-on-it’s-back dance he’d ever seen in order to stand up.  
Stiles managed to stand up and still found the time to glare at him before tentatively trying to walk.  
Derek had known the human wouldn’t get far but didn’t expect him to lose his balance and fall again.  
Seeing as Stiles was doing his weird turtle moves again Derek decided that they had wasted enough time and went to retrieve the flailing mess of limbs from where he’d dropped it in the first place.

Stiles saw the broody wolf walk over to him and let him pick him up ignoring his disapproving eyebrows.  
“ You’re such a dick. ”  
The wolf ignored him and passed Stiles arm over his neck so he could lean on to him while they made it over to the camaro. Stiles hadn't even had a chance to check out the spotless black sports car he got manhandled into.

Derek looked over to Stiles. The human's smell of shame, anger and pain filled the car.  
It bothered him, he felt guilty. He knew he was responsible for this whole situation, he thought of something to say but couldn’t find anything so he settled on a huff and started the Camaro.

 

Derek made his way over to Deaton’s clinic, he had thought about taking Stiles to Melissa at the hospital knowing she would be discreet about it but she was Scott’s mom and by now Isaac must have already told all of the pack about the half clothed stranger walking around in his loft.  
There was a chance Melissa would confirm it. That would cause a total mayhem and before you know it they would all be eager to come check it for them selves and assault him with questions to which he didn’t know the answers himself. Plus he knew Stiles wouldn’t want to go to a hospital.  
The camaro stopped in front of an animal-clinic.  
Derek got out and went to open Stiles’ door.

“ Say one of your stupid dog jokes and I drop your ass in the middle of the woods.”

Stiles audibly closed his mouth in surprise stopping what ever he’d been about to say, then resumed to his angry glaring.  
Satisfied Derek hauled him up and helped him walk the little distance to the front-desk of the clinic.  
Stiles reluctantly let Derek help him sit down and made sure he glared at him again before he instinctually started checking out the place. He got pulled out of his inspection when a man walked up behind the desk.  
The man’s eyes instantly fell on his swollen ankle, he then took a look at him and Derek before breaking a protection barrier to let them through.  
That wasn’t sketchy at all.  
This time Stiles let Derek help him out without complaining and let him lead him to the back of the clinic where the Alpha helped him sit down on a cold metal Table.

Soon the vet inspected his ankle making it turn and twist a couple times and causing him to suppress a hiss more than once.  
“ O—kayyy... so, what's up Doc? lost your tongue to the cat? ”  
The man just looked at him a hint of a smile tugging at the corner of his lips before taking an other look at his ankle.  
Stiles glanced over at Derek as if saying “ What’s with the cryptic doctor? ” but got no answer back as he seemed to have found his meaning in life being a scowling wallflower.  
Stiles sighted knowing he wouldn't get more than a huff anyways.  
“ Alright Doc, just tell M.C. McBroody-brows over here that I’m good to go. ”  
Derek sighted deeply earning himself a glare.  
The vet slightly smiling now, let go of his ankle again.  
“ My name is Alan Deaton, nice to meet you Stiles. Derek told me a little about you this morning. “ This earned Derek an other glare which still didn't get any reaction.  
“ Rest assured he didn't tell me you were a hunter. ” Now Derek was also looking at the Vet with a less dumbfounded expression than Stiles'.  
“ How—?"  
“ I’ve met quite a lot of hunters. Your body posture is the same. I know you felt the magic when you walked into the clinic. You already looked for every possible treat and close by escape. Well trained hunters are generally taught to be careful especially entering an unknown environment and you seem a little young to be on the police force. ”  
“ I'm not a hunter. ”  
Stiles couldn't read the look in the vet's eyes. It was unnerving.  
“ You should be able to walk in three weeks if you rest well and take it slow." The man gave him a polite smile and turned his attention to Derek. “ Do you still have the balm Lydia requested? Use it once every day, he should be completely healed in two weeks. No moving or at least as little possible. You can borrow crutches. If you need a refill on the balm let me know. Come see me after those two weeks for a check up, Stiles. ”  
Cryptic AF. Stiles made a face while the vet and Derek nodded once at each other.  
Derek helped Stiles up.

When they were both seated in Derek's black Camaro Stiles looked at him.  
“ I’m not staying. ”  
Derek knew that was coming. He’d heard how Stiles’ heartbeat had sped up when Deaton had mentioned three weeks of rest.  
“ Stiles, you can barely stand on your own. I also know you have no destination to go too and don’t worry about the Argents. They haven’t been in Beacon Hills in years… they have a bad history here. ” Derek could see the Stiles was starting to hesitate. " Stiles, just... stay."  
Somehow that seemed tip the scales in his favour as Stiles conviction lessened.  
“ It’s not safe, Derek. ”  
“ You’re right. You running around in my territory with no one watching you is not safe for anyone.”  
Stiles snorted.  
“ Rude. ”  
“ Lets go get some groceries. ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel bad for Isaac so I'll make sure he gets extra attention later <3 Poor little angle of mine <3


	10. You're so warm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously you guys are the best!  
> Writing this story and reading your comments and seeing your kudos brings a little more sunshine into my days.

The day had gone better than expected… that was if you put aside their constant bickering.  
“ Pop Tarts are not suitable for breakfast. ” 

“ You'd think a werewolf would at least have some meat in their cart, there's only vegetables and fruits in there! ” 

“ I already told you I have enough at home and don’t open shampoo bottles just to smell them! ”

“It's a normal thing to do, Derek! ” 

“ Not when you're opening all of them! ” 

“ If you're planning on letting me fast to death can we at least get curly fries on our way back, as a last homage to normal people's eating habits. ” 

“ First no, second you’ve already filled the cart with trash so don’t even give me your fasting to death crap.” 

“ Sourwolf really suits you. ” 

“ Shut up, Stiles. ”

 

They got back to the loft late in the afternoon having made a stop at the nearest drive through for some curly fries and a chocolate shake for Stiles and sparkling water for Derek.  
“ This is a drive through, Derek! The least you could do is act civilised and get a Pepsi! ”

“ Don't make me throw those fries out the window. ”

Derek never thought he’d ever be that exhausted just by doing groceries. How could an injured human have that much energy?  
As soon as they got to the loft Derek started storing the groceries while Stiles reached for the three boxes of Pop Tarts the wolf had bought for him, along with tons of other things he really absolutely like one-hundred percent needed, scowling like he was now as Stiles grinned triumphantly from his seat at the kitchen counter.  
“ You know... you're a Sourwolf, but a nice one. ” 

Stiles shit-eating-grin got wider as the Alpha’s scowl got deeper.  
Derek grabbed the box of Pop Tarts from Stiles’ hands before he could pry it open.

“ You just had curly fries. ”  
The human gaped at him lips parted and Derek couldn't help but remember their taste.

“ I'm taking it back, you’re not a nice Sourwolf! ”  
Now it was Derek who grinned making the human pout as he kept storing the groceries. 

Stiles having nothing to do found himself checking out the wolf as he repeatedly bent down to grab groceries and store them. It didn't take long for his mind to start wandering to this morning. He hadn’t had the time to test out whether the wolf’s ass was as firm as it looked or if it would be soft if he grasped it.

Derek’s nostrils flared catching the faint smell of the younger man's arousal. His eyes briefly flashed red before he glanced back at Stiles. Stiles who was now looking anywhere but him. He saw the blush creeping up on the humans face and his own wolf rumbling low at the sight of it.  
Their fight of this morning seemed far gone. Maybe they’d be alright after all. 

Derek turned back to finish storing the groceries bending down again aware that the humans' eyes were on him as soon as he did.  
Having finally finished storing the groceries he turned back to Stiles whose cheeks were still a little red.  
“ You like quinoa? ”

“ What if I don’t? ” 

Derek rolled his eyes and started cooking while Stiles played with the crutches Deaton had lend them.  
“ Still as useful as I remember. ” 

Derek turned his head towards him when he heard Stiles' sarcastic mumbling.  
“ You’ve had to use some before? ”

Stiles didn't say anything for a while making Derek curious. He couldn't smell anything over the smell of food but he could see the way the younger man’s body had tensed.

Now that the Alpha werewolf's eyes were on him, Stiles couldn’t help but feel like he had to tell him.  
Goddammit he wasn’t a werewolf! Those Alpha-Beta things didn’t apply to him!  
He swallowed, feeling a lump in his throat.

“ Uhm... yeah, happened a couple times before. ”  
He shrugged it off as nonchalantly possible not nearly coming close to fooling the wolf.

Derek felt so much anger at the thought of what other things the Argents might have done. It took him a tremendous amount of self control to keep his wolf in tow so he wouldn't start growling, demanding to know who had dared hurt what was his.  
He had to snap out of it.  
He managed to announce dinner would be ready in 15, without gritting to much through his teeth. 

Stiles relaxed as soon as the wolf turned back to the stove. His attention turned to the huge bookshelf taking half the wall in Derek’s loft.  
“ What language is this even written in? Is... Derek, is that Russian? ”

“ I'm a translator in my free time. ” 

“ How many languages do you speak? ” 

The wolf had to take a moment to think but didn't get a chance to tell, Stiles threw his hands up in exasperation nearly breaking something as the crutches followed.  
“ You know what? Don’t even tell me, I’m so jealous right now! ” 

Derek shook his head and smiled.  
It seemed Stiles might, and he says ‘Might’, like Derek’s quinoa salad.  
“ Wait we don't get dessert? ” 

“ This isn't summer camp Stiles. ”

“ I should have made you buy pudding! I need a daily dose of pudding! ” The Alpha levelled him an unimpressed look. “ Okay, maybe not daily. ”

“ Brat. ”

“ Sourwolf.”

 

Derek tried, he really tried to concentrate on what he was reading but he was painfully aware of the strong rabbit heartbeat disturbing the silence of the loft and the nervous fidgeting of the person it belonged to. It was driving him crazy.  
His wolf kept urging him to make sure his mate would lose the nervous smell so that there would only be Stiles’ sweet sent and his own. 

Derek didn’t lift his eyes from his book.  
“ What, Stiles? ” 

Derek could sense how the human cringed at the annoyance in his voice.  
Not hearing an answer back he reluctantly tore his eyes away from his book to look in the direction of the source of his irritation.

Stiles lips were plastered together in a disapproving line.  
He saw the man’s way too expressive eyebrows shoot up to his hairline, urging him to speak.  
How the wolf managed to look hot even as he looked at him with exasperation he didn't know but it only managed to piss him off.  
“ Stiles. ”

“ I can't move. ”

The wolf gave him a confused look, and no! No, he shouldn't look adorable like that! He's got friggin’ claws and nearly chewed his head off! 

“ I. Can’t. Move. ” Stiles said again with more force gesturing towards himself then the crutches laying on the other side of the loft. “ You took the crutches and threw them on the other side of the room because I was being noisy ‘Grr, grr, I'm the big bad Alpha and I can't communicate normally with the awesomeness that Stiles is, huff!’.” Stiles said taking an exaggerated heavy voice and growling like a newborn cat to imitate the wolf. 

The wolf scowled at him still not moving.  
“ You were using them as lightsabers because you have now ‘Plenty of time to become the greatest Jedi to walk this earth!’” the high pitched voice Derek had imitated definitely sounded nothing like his, no Sir! Stiles gave him an offended look.

“ I don't sound like that! ” 

“ Now, you really do sound like a brat. ”

Derek saw the humans jaw tense and the disapproving glare appear again. He didn't know how Stiles kept managing to make even his wolf uneasy at his stare. Just as he was contemplating apologising the human cut him off.  
“ Would you, oh, all might Alpha, Broodiest brooder of them all, guardian of the eyebrows of doom and leader of the people of Sourwolfia, please give me the goddamn crutches back? ”

“ You didn’t have to flatter me that much. ” 

He stood up putting his book upside down to keep the page he was on and stood up to look for the ‘goddamn’ crutches. He barely suppressed the grin that threatened to appear on his face when he turned around after picking up the crutches from the ground and saw Stiles' pouting face.  
Derek already knew after the whole day spent bickering back and forth with Stiles that when Stiles pouts it means he isn’t angry anymore, more like pretending. His wolf was practically wagging it's tail and before he realised what he was doing he picked Stiles up instead of giving him the crutches  
“ Whoah, big guy! What are you doing? ”

“ You’re supposed to move as little as possible.” 

He sat Stiles down on the couch and gave him the TV remote then picked up his book and sat too.  
Stiles was staring at Derek in confusion before deciding to just roll with it and turn the TV on.

In the end Derek realised he should have expected the outcome of giving Stiles the remote. Stiles had swiped through the channels for 15 min before finally settling on a documentary on foxes and wolves making endless comments and jokes often at his wolf's expense then complained about the lack of Netflix and when Derek grumbled that he wasn't living in a cabin in the woods and that he did have Netflix on his computer Stiles had literally tried to bribe him to get the computer.  
When the human had accepted that he wouldn’t get it he went back to nagging his ears off about the wrong informations on the documentary on Roman history that was now playing. 

It had taken 3 hours and a bit of pain syphoning before Stiles finally started dozing off. He ended up falling asleep on Derek's shoulder.  
Derek knew he shouldn't enjoy it but he hadn't felt the warmth of another person like this in years and even though it wasn't something he was used to anymore he still remembered how good it felt.  
Stiles' warmth enveloped him. He had barely spent two days with him yet it felt familiar. 

It wasn't long before he started dozing off too.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes we just need a little bit of fluff in between all of that angst. Our boys need it.  
> Also, I'm having exams right now so it is possible that I get a little slow at posting chapters


	11. You smell… different.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yaaay! Finally a first sight at the Pack!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been reading the sweetest comments from you guys and I just wanted to say thank you so much!  
> It's strange and awesome to see how complete strangers are able make your day brighter with just these comments and encouragements. So thank you !

Derek woke up to the sound of Stiles's terrified screams.  
In less than a second he was upstairs in his bedroom wolfed out and ready to fight.  
But there was no enemy to be seen only Stiles fighting the bed sheets for dear life, consumed by his own nightmares.

Stiles’ night terrors where of the worst kind, even Isaac’s nightmares hadn’t been as bad as what he had witnessed these tree last nights. Stiles barely slept, meaning that he didn’t either.  
He rushed over to him and held him.  
“ Stiles! Stiles, wake up! You’re having a nightmare. ”

Stiles then opened his eyes looking right into the his eyes as if he could see right through him. Derek ignored the shudder that ran down his spine.  
“ Der-k? ”

“ Yes, It’s me. See? Nothing to be afraid of. ”

“ No, no, it’s not safe— ”

“ Stiles, you need to calm down and breathe with me. ”

“ You're not safe with me, Derek. ”

“ Stiles, look at me. ” Derek pressed his forehead to Stiles’ making sure the human’s eyes focussed on his while he syphoned his pain away.  
“ Look at me. I’m safe right where I am and so are you. ”

Derek hated the way Stiles’ eyes filled with tears, hated the Argents for what they had done to him.  
“ He'll come for me, Derek. Gerard will come for me. ”

“ I won’t let him hurt you. ”

Stiles erratic heartbeat and smell of anxiety was filling the room making Derek's wolf wince. He felt the need to keep his mate close deep in his bones. He needed to comfort him and make sure he’d know he was safe with him.  
Derek held the pale shivering human tighter.

Slowly the boy's heartbeat became more steady and the smell of anxiety became less strong but he was still painfully aware of its presence.  
They stayed pressed against each other for so long Derek's eyes eventually started to feel heavy.  
He checked the human's heartbeat, figuring he was probably a sleep Derek motioned to get out of the bed so he could go back downstairs to sleep on the couch but as soon as he moved Stiles’ grip on his shirt tightened.

“ Please Der… don't go. ”

At any other time he would have cringed at yet another one of Stiles’ nicknames but Stiles’ voice sounded so broken and vulnerable he couldn't find it in himself to care.   
He was supposed to resist, but Stiles was asking him to stay, his mate was asking him to stay.

Stiles probably felt him hesitate and raised those big watery whiskey brown eyes to him.  
There wasn’t a chance in a million he would have been able to resist those. Not when he was looking at him like that, not when his eyes were filled with tears, not when Stiles' whispered one last broken “ Please stay. ”

Derek gave up and lifted the covers to settle next to him ignoring the satisfied purr of his wolf and his own drumming heartbeat when Stiles slid closer to him and unconsciously sent marked him by rubbing his face in the crook of his neck. He whispered comforting words into Stiles hair, like “ It’s alright, you’re safe.” and “ I’m right here. ” or again “ I’m not letting you go. " over and over again until he was sure Stiles was asleep and even after that.  
Who was he kidding? He was completely gone for this kid.

 

Derek felt like he’d barely closed his eyes when he got ripped away from sleep again.  
He managed to silence his phone before Stiles woke.  
Parrish’s name lit up his screen. He picked up and reluctantly left the warmth of his mate and his bed to answer.  
“ Parrish. ”

“ Derek, there’s been an other rampaging, this one was worse than the others. Whatever it is, it’s left the same markings behind and some white dust but there is still no sent. If we don’t fix this fast it’s going to attract too much attention. ”

“ I’m on my way. ”

Derek met with Parrish when his department wrapped up. Somehow Parrish always managed to sneak him into crime scenes without anyone questioning why. Being the Sheriff did have its perks and having said sheriff on your side certainly helped too.  
“ Derek.”

“ Parrish, thanks for the call.”

“ Yeah, if I had any clue on this I would have waited until the morning to call you but we could really use each other’s help on this one. ”

Parrish led him to the new carvings on the walls of the store windows.  
“ They look like the ones I found a couple of weeks ago in the preserve. ”

Parrish nodded.  
“ Whatever or whoever this is, it seems to me like they’re trying to send a message to you. ”

Derek approached the dust left on the broken remains of the store window and tried to catch a sent but just like the old carvings on the threes in the preserve, the new carvings in the city didn’t held any smell or indication as to what or whom could have been raking havoc in his territory.

At first those rampages had only been in the preserve surrounding the old house but now it had spread to the town. If he didn’t figure out what was going on fast it would indeed attract unwanted attention and right now with Stiles being on the run it wasn't the time for rogue hunters or other law departments to invade his territory.

He’d texted the pack and got Scott, Isaac, Jackson and Cora to patrol the outskirts of the town and Boyd, Erica, Malia and Kira to look for anything else in town that could hold a clue to what they were dealing with.  
Lydia hadn’t found anything new on the markings or the white dust and stayed researching at home.  
Needles to say that spending the night dealing with the mess left behind by their mystery monster of the month and the whining of his pack had not been on his To Do list.  
He would probably need push Deaton for help on this one.

The Pack joined him back on main-street where he had just finished up with Parrish.  
" Okay, let's do an other patrol." 

“ Derek, it’s five in the morning! We’ve been at it for hours, dude! ”

“ Derek, we’re really tired, please.” If Derek had been human he probably wouldn’t even have heard Isaac’s plea.

“ I can’t believe I’ve been out here with these losers for so long. It’s threatening my reputation. ”

Derek flashed his eyes at them.  
“ Whatever it is that's causing all this mess, it's putting us all in danger. So I don’t care about reputations. I do care about our safety.”

Derek ignored their uncomfortable shuffling at his outburst in favour of going through the files Parrish had handed him.  
Boyd carefully approached him.  
“ Derek, we’ve searched the entire town several times tonight. Whatever it is that caused all of this, it’s no longer here. ” 

Derek finally turned to him reading concern all over his face. Of course Boyd would know that something else was playing.  
He’d told Stiles that he was safe here, so he needed to make sure that he was but pushing the pack like that wasn’t going to get them anywhere.  
He saw how Cora and Boyd exchanged looks of concern before caving in.

Derek dismissed the pack, who instantly scattered away. Only Cora hesitated a little longer.

“ You smell… different. ”

“ Just go. We're all tired and I’ve pushed you guys to hard. I’m sorry. ”  
Did Derek just apologise? Cora gave him one last concerned look before leaving with the others.

Derek headed to the loft to keep looking for anything he could have missed in the files Parrish had managed to sneak him copies of without results.  
He sat with the new pictures at the coffee table surrounded by the bestiary translations Lydia was still working on, old books from his mother's library and the little bit of information they’d managed to gather from the previous rampages. 

It only gave him more questions with no answers. He admitted defeat when the first lights of sunrise filtered through his windows and got back to bed too tired to think anymore.   
The welcoming smell of home and mate filled his nose making him fall asleep as soon as his head touched his pillow.


	12. It's all about trust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles deals with Derek's trust issues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The level of happiness you guys give me with your comments is To Damn High!  
> Sometimes I read them and I get that stupid uncontrollable smile on my face.  
> I nearly had to confess to my mom that I write gay porn fan fiction to convince her that I'm not laughing and smiling at my phone because of a secret boyfriend. 
> 
> Y'all, our love is dangerous... but it's the fucking best!

Stiles woke feeling the most comfortable he’d had in ages.   
He was pressed against pillows and had his body wrapped up in warmth and he really didn’t want to get out of his sleepy haze but he was starting to get a little to hot.   
He tried to move a little but felt strong arms holding him tighter. 

His eyes shot open and he got greeted with the exclusive view of a sleeping Derek. It took him a second of wondering how come the universe was being nice to him this early in the day when he remembered the nightmares and how he had asked said Alpha to stay. 

Turns out having Derek cuddling up to him was a perfect charm against nightmares.   
Stiles could feel his heart melt at how innocent and carefree the Alpha looked while a sleep.

His eyes roamed over the Alpha’s rough looking lips. He was so close that if he tilted his head a little he could just steal a kiss from them. He then stared at Derek’s long lashes, and up to those expressive eyebrows currently frowning.  
“ I can feel you staring at me, Stiles. ” Derek had that hot broken morning voice going on and that did things to him. 

“ You’re gonna have to release me if you want me to stop doing that ‘cause right now I’m wide awake and I get bored very easily. You know right now I have nothing to do, so yeah, bored. The only thing not making me die from boredom is looking at your pretty face—”   
Derek huffed in annoyance and released his grip.   
“ Please, just stop talking.” 

Stiles got out of bed and ruffled Derek’s hair then managed to dodge the pillow that got thrown at him. He found his way to the bathroom where a second toothbrush was waiting for him and brushed his teeth, took a quick shower then made it downstairs before Derek even got up. 

Stiles had found supplies to make caramel coffee and was sitting at the kitchen counter waiting for it to brew when his eyes fell on the mess of papers and books on the small living room table.   
He figured Derek had probably been working on that last night so he poured himself a cup and went to check them out. Maybe he could help.

Stiles was sitting on Derek’s couch with his crutches on the ground and surrounded by a couple of books of studies on the supernatural. He’d been making a couple of side notes on a blank paper for corrections.   
From what he’d made out of the files, Derek’s town seemed to be having some trouble with angry fae. He’d gone over to checking out a partial translation of archaic latin but got distracted when Derek came downstairs barely awake and with bed hair. 

Whomever was up there loving him today, thank you for the jerk off material he had now safely stored in his special Derek-is-hotter-than-the-sun file. 

“ Morning sunshine." If the growl like answer he had gotten meant anything Stiles was guessing it was a mating call towards coffee. “ I, being the very agile movement reduced person I am, made coffee, you are welcome. " 

Derek scowled before pouring himself a cup of still warm coffee. He hadn't expected anything much of it but this coffee was better than he had ever made it himself.  
“ Thank God, your talents aren't limited to talking. " 

“ I have many more talents you have yet to see."

Stiles wiggled his eyebrows earning himself a grimace which only made him throw his head back and laugh.  
Derek hadn’t heard Stiles’ laugh before. Wasn’t even sure he still could knowing how he’d found him and all the night terrors he kept having. Stiles’ laugh sounded like… light?   
Oh, sue him! He’s not a poet he doesn’t know how to describe a laugh! 

Derek’s eyes lingered on Stiles’ exposed slender neck then followed it up to his lips. Feeling like he was doing exactly what Stiles wanted him to he tore his gaze away from those sinful pink lips and let it fall on the books that were surrounding him. 

In an instant the mood changed. Stiles looked at the wolf who before had seemed to be answering to his teasings but now had a full on scowl back on his face.  
“ Wait, Seriously? You switched from blushing teddy bear to glaring bunny-killer in less than a second! That's some serious bipolar disorder you got going on right th— Whoah!“

Derek was yet again glaring at the annoying human he had had the great idea to bring back home.  
The younger man had been sitting in the middle of the couch files and pictures scattered all around him when Derek had hauled him up by the front of his sweatshirt, well… Derek’s sweatshirt. He once again ignored the smell of him and Stiles combined together and how right it smelled.   
Derek flashed his eyes red and that got Stiles to stop fidgeting.   
“ What. Are. You. Doing. ” 

Stiles eyebrows knitted together at the random question.  
“ You seriously need to learn about intonations because that is not what a question sounds like.”

Derek growled at him but wasn’t nearly satisfied by the lack of intimidation he saw on Stiles' face.  
Derek grabbed the bestiary from the coffee table and held it up for him to see.  
" This wasn't on the bookshelf. " 

" No, it wasn’t. It was on the coffee table. ” 

Stiles had said it slowly and in a careful tone as if Derek was a spooked animal that could run away any instant instead of a dangerous Alpha werewolf. Stiles awkwardly patted at Derek’s forearm urging him to let go.

Derek’s eyes flew from the spot on his arm to Stiles then to the messy coffee table before he remembered that he’d been reading it on the couch before going to sleep last night.   
Stiles awkwardly cleared his throat pulling his attention back to him. 

“ Right... Look, Sourwolf, by now you know that curiosity is kinda my thing and this case along with the books and the studies on the supernatural, they would seriously bring a plus to a whole day of looking at your broody self translating Russian books, no matter how pretty you are. I spent these last couple of days doing nothing, I’m not healed yet so I can’t move or train, I had to leave my laptop behind so escaping through the internet is not an option either, I don’t understand half of the books on your shelf and there are only so many channels to watch on your TV.”   
Stiles gave a hesitant smiled. 

“ Seeing these I figured I could do something to keep myself busy and return you the favour by helping you out. You’re missing a lot of info on your case, and no offence but from what I’ve read, your bestiary is incomplete and your translation of it isn’t entirely correct, which is surprising seeing how translation is kind of your job and—” 

Derek's scowl got deeper even as he felt his wolf preening at the knowledge that Stiles thought he was ’pretty’. (A.N.: Really Derek? That’s what you got out of all that?)  
“ Are you… is that a blush? I really don’t get you.” 

Derek’s glare deepened and his fist tightened around Stile’s shirt.  
“ I’m not the one who is translating them and don't touch stuff that aren't yours. " 

Stiles eyebrows shot up.  
“ Fine, then don't leave stuff you don't want me to touch where everyone can. ” Derek’s eyes flashed red at the accusing tone. “ Oh, okay cool, so we're back to the eye flashing now. I thought we’d made progress these last days. ” 

Seeing how the Alpha’s angry glare was still pinned on him, Stiles crossed his arms defiantly despite Derek still holding him by his shirt.   
“ What? Think I've never seen a bestiary before? I mean common, we both know you could use some help with this.”

Derek glared at the human.  
" I can't trust you." 

He knew he had messed up the instant the storm-like smell of Stiles’ anger filled the air around them. Stiles entire posture had changed, there was no sight of the fidgety human to be seen anywhere.  
“ Stiles , I didn—”

“ But I should trust you, right? Me, the human, the hunter. ”

Stiles pressed a pressure point in Derek’s hand making it open and release his shirt without the Alpha’s consent. He would have fully appreciated the puzzled look on his face but was to angry for that. 

“ I am suppressing every single one of my instincts knowing darn well that I am hurt and thus basically easy prey to your wolf. " Derek flinched a little at the words but Stiles wasn’t done.   
“ I decided to trust you so I let you take my weapons from me and never asked for them back even when I wanted to leave. But you, the living predator with the claws and teeth and super strength, are the one who can't trust me?! But I have to trust you, right? I have to trust that you are not going to decide that I'm too annoying or to much of a burden and kill me. ”

“ I wouldn’t—.”

“ See?! There it is! You want me to believe you, to trust you, but that works both ways, Derek, so make it work! ”

Stiles didn't know when exactly he started yelling at the Alpha but something must’ve been wrong because he could still feel his head solidly attached to the rest of his body.   
He looked at the broody man standing in front of him and waited for something to happen. Searched Derek's face looking for those tiny little details he paid attention to whenever he tried to decipher what Derek’s wordless thoughts were. 

Derek didn’t even seemed sure of what he’d said, Stiles had figured out that much. The man seemed to be having a mental fight with whichever one of his inner sourwolf voices, but it still hurt to know the wolf wasn't sure whether or not he trusted Stiles enough to leave him with some stupid book.   
After all Derek was the one who kept telling him not to leave. 

They stared each other down until Derek decided he had had enough of it and gave a frustrated growl.   
He rubbed his hand through is hair before turning around to put the Bestiary on top of the bookshelf. They both knew Stiles could get it if he wanted to.   
Stiles visibly deflated when Derek turned back to him uncertainty showing on his face but still took that as a hopeful sign.   
Derek wouldn’t show any kind of vulnerability if he didn’t trust him just a little bit. 

His eyes dropped to the coffee table where the files and papers still laid scattered. Derek hadn’t complained about those.  
Stiles took a deep breath and exhaled trying to get rid of the tension in his body.   
“ Do you want my help with this? ”

Derek still seemed a little hesitant when Stiles glanced back at him with small reassuring smile that instantly made the wolf feel warm inside.   
“ Before you answer that, you might want to know that I already figured out what has been rampaging your town. I mean, if these books are here because you are researching why you might be having some issues with what I suspect you are having issues with, then you would probably want to know that there are various ways of getting rid of the problem you might or might not be having, in a non-violent way, which could even be beneficial to your pack and territory. ” 

Derek felt like he had a headache just by listening to the word vomit that came out of Stiles’ mouth. He lifted his hands up, motioning Stiles to stop or maybe just have mercy on him.  
“ If I let you research this with me, will you stop trying to fry my brain? ” 

Stiles threw him a blinding smile and Derek thought he’d just been swooned away.  
“ Even better. I’ll make us more coffee. ” 

“ Deal. ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm actually very excited for the following chapters.  
> I've started writing the base lines for them and I'm really looking forward to the ones where Stiles meets the Pack and interacts with them. It's going to be so awesome to write!


	13. " Yes, Alpha. "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Show host: Thank you for joining us tonight on the "Red Riding, at your Service" show.  
> This weeks' chapter starring Special guest: Vernon Milton Boyd IV !  
> Boyd, any special comment?  
> Boyd: I gotta go, Derek needs me.  
> * Boyd rushing off stage*  
> Show host: Well let's see where that goes!  
> *cheering audience*  
> *camera 1*

Derek was driving into town after having made a peace agreement with the local Seelie court.  
It had only taken a day for Stiles to figure out what was going on and a second one to have a solid plan and help him establish contact with them.

Derek basically had to threaten Stiles to stay at the loft.  
He’d seen him getting his combat boots out and already knew he’d have to fight the human over this.  
“ You’re not coming. ”

Big baffled Bambi eyes had lifted up to his and made it a lot harder to say no.  
“ You’re not healed and I don’t want to risk you getting worse. ”

“ I’m perfectly fine! ”

“ I will tie you down to that chair if I have to. ”

“ Kinky but I’m not in the mood right now. ”

“ Stiles. ”

The human stayed silent for a little and Derek thought he might have won this. But of course it wouldn’t be that easy.  
“ I’ll make breakfast for a week. ”

Stiles’ breakfasts were amazing. This morning Stiles had made blueberry pancakes that just melted on his tongue.  
But Derek wouldn’t give in, not for this.  
“ Don’t make it hard, it’s for your own good. ”

“ I’ll stop speaking during movies, I won’t nickname you for an entire week and I’ll stop using your hairbrush. ”

“ You told me you weren’t using it! ”

“ I’m not. ”

“ What are you even using it for? You barely have hair. ”

“ Wha—? It’s growing out! You said you could see it! ”

“ I can’t. ”  
Derek just rolled his eyes at Stiles’ offended scoffs and reached for him.  
Stiles didn’t even flinch.

He was starting to get used to Derek not knowing what personal space meant but his breath still hitched and his heart still sped up when Derek’s thumb stoked over his cheekbone.

“ You're hurt and I need to know you’re safe. ” Before Stiles could lean into the warmth of Derek’s hand, the Alpha turned around to put his leather jacket on, leaving him with the raw need for more of his warmth.

“ Here.”  
Stiles flailed before getting a hold on the smartphone Derek had thrown his way, then stared at it in confusion.

“ I know you don’t have one and if I die tonight I want to personally let you know how I’ll kill you. ”  
Stiles just gave him one of his typical smug smiles he swears he hated so much.

“ Derek, are you saying that the last thing you’d want to hear is my voice? ”  
Derek just rolled his eyes and turned to leave ignoring Stiles and the way his smile made him want to kiss him so much.

 

Derek had found the Fae exactly where Stiles had said they’d be and did exactly what Stiles had told him to do, and that came out exactly as Stiles had guaranteed it would.  
He’d found himself missing Stiles and his ability to use words, but he managed to sweet talk his way out of this mess.   
Stiles had said they’d want apologies for having destroyed their Elf rings while being out with the pack last full moon.

Derek had remembered the strange circles of mushrooms but hadn’t thought much of it.   
Both him and the Pack had found it extremely endearing to break those in their playful wrestles while high on the call of the full moon.   
They hadn't realised those rings were sacred. Honestly Derek hadn’t even known they had Fae neighbours but he would never admit that.

The Seelie held enough importance to the rings to want to curse them.  
Stiles had figured that one out too.  
If he hadn’t figured that out as fast as he did, the Pack would have been walking around with a curse on their back. Derek didn’t even want to know what the curse was, just seeing Stiles’ deep frown at the markings had convinced him that he didn’t need to either.

He had offered the Seelie Queen and her court a token of his gratitude for accepting a peace treaty in the form of a small wooden box filled with mountain ash the Fae court had been all to eager to accept.  
He hadn’t been too keen on that idea but Stiles had told him that the Fae were bound to their word and would not be able to use it against any of his pack or anyone under the Alpha of Beacon Hills’ protection after a peace treaty was made.

“ Did angry brunette help out with this? ” Derek glanced at Boyd.

To be honest he hadn’t even expected Boyd to answer his call.  
Derek had wanted to come with the Pack but as he had expected, they hadn’t come to the meeting last night.  
Usually he would call them and make them come the day after but he’d been to concentrated in his progress in the case with Stiles to find time to be annoyed about it and he didn’t feel like yelling at them today anyways.

He’d just shot a text to Boyd explaining that he needed him as his second and had been surprised to see him already waiting for him at the edge of the Preserve when he arrived.  
The taller quiet werewolf had kept a stoic face throughout the entire ordeal, ready to help if his Alpha needed him and present as Derek’s friend.   
Derek thought that might have impressed the Seelie Queen as she and her court kept eyeing the dark skinned giant.

Out of the entire pack Boyd was the one who always seemed to understand him. Derek hadn’t really thought about having a second but when Stiles had suggested it, Boyd had been the natural choice for him.  
Derek didn’t need to answer Boyd. He knew from the way Boyd had hummed that he already knew the answer.

They stayed silent for a little longer when Derek pulled up to Erica’s place.  
“ I don’t know what he’s doing but it’s a good look on you. ”

With that Boyd nodded his goodbye and stepped out of Derek’s Camaro.  
Derek was not smiling when he started the car again, he was not happy on the inside when he shot a group text to the Pack saying that their latest supernatural problem had been solved and he was definitely not warm and fuzzy when he called Stiles.  
“ You have reached the Bat-cave. ” Derek snorted at that.

“ Does that make me Batman and you Alfred. ” Stiles gasped in fake offence.

“ If anything you are Wolverine. ”

“ They're not even in the same universe. ”

Stiles made a charmed noise.  
“ You keep surprising me everyday Logan, but still, I am the one and only Batman! And I pretty much saved your furry ass, give me some credit! ”

“ I’m getting take out what do you want? ”

“ Dude, seriously!? I could kiss you right now! ” Derek’s face heated up at the thought of it.

“ Don’t call me dude. ”

“ Yeah, yeah Sourwolf. I want curly fries!”

“ Obviously. ”

“ It’s obvious because it’s the only good choice and I’ll take a Chocolate shake and a Bacon Burger with that. I’ll also take you serenading me on how awesome I am when you get back. ”

" Was that all? "

“ One last thing. Hear me out okay? " Derek nodded even if Stiles couldn't see him. " If we're really doing this superhero thing I think you shouldn't wear spandex. You'd probably give old ladies heart attacks with all that muscle out there. "

" Wh-? I'm hanging up now."

Derek hung up and couldn’t help but smile when he ordered making the girl behind the counter blush and stutter.  
He smelled Scott and Isaac before they even walked in and turned around to see them come through the dinner’s doors.

Isaac was the first to spot him. He looked guilty while Scott, as per usual, puffed out his chest unaware that he was defying him by doing so.  
Derek ignored it and nodded at them as a greeting.  
Isaac took it as a green light to come and sent mark his Alpha.  
“ We got your text. Are you okay? You seem fine. ”

“ Yeah, you don’t seem hurt. Is it really fixed?”

Derek gritted his teeth at Scott’s accusing tone.  
“ It’s fixed, Scott. You’re welcome to help out next time. ”

Scott did seem a little guilty at that but it quickly got replaced by his usual suspicious stare.  
“ How did you fix it? ”

“ I sacrificed a fucking unicorn Scott, what else? ” Isaac and Scott both gave him a shocked look. Dammit Stiles’ sarcasm was rubbing off on him. “ If you had showed up to the pack meeting yesterday you would have known. It is still every two weeks on Friday at the same time. I’m expecting you to not ditch it for a stupid movie. ”

Isaac lowered his head in shame while Scott avoided his gaze.  
Derek’s order got called out. Isaac’s ears seemed to perk up when they called take out for two, but he didn’t comment on it. Derek got his order and nodded them goodbye.  
He left Macy’s with the well known feeling brewing in the bottom of his stomach that he’d never be a good enough Alpha.

 

Stiles had been patiently waiting for Derek to return.   
He’d scooped out a couple of old movies from the lower part of Derek’s bookshelf and had them waiting on the coffee table so they could pick one as soon as Derek got back with the promised take out.

As soon as Derek walked in he could see on his face that the plan had gone perfectly. It was in the tiny little details Derek’s face had.   
Sometimes Stiles could see right through the "Big Bad Alpha Wolf” mask and get glimpses of the real Derek and it was something completely different and so beautiful. He just hoped one day he'd see all of it.

Derek walked in with the take out and got greeted with that typical smug grin Stiles spored whenever he’d done something he was proud off.   
In the two days they’d worked on the Seelie case Derek had gotten a lot more of those. Every time Stiles had proved him wrong or stirred him for a reaction and gotten exactly what he wanted, he’d been rewarded with that exact same smile he just couldn’t get enough off.

In an instant all his worries fell to the back ground as he fought a smile from forming on his own lips.  
“ I’ll listen to your speech of how awesome I am later for now let’s focus on which one of those we are going to watch while you provide me with this token of your appreciation made of fat and sweet sin.”

Derek rolled his eyes fondly and handed Stiles the bag of take out before checking the movies Stiles had picked.  
“ Dog Soldiers, Sharknado, Grizzly Rage… Really? ”

“ Hey don’t look at me like that, it was in your bookshelf! ” 

Derek remembered all too well how Laura used to come home with these horrible movies and often forced him to watch those with her.  
“ They were my sisters’. ”

Stiles could recognise that look anywhere. He squeezed the older man’s arm in support.  
“ She had great taste. ”

Derek smiled at the movies.  
“ She had horrible taste. ”

They settled for Star Wars because Derek refused to watch the Grizzly rage and ate their take out while Stiles silently worded the lines along with the actors.   
Somewhere in the middle of the movie Stiles scooted over to lean on Derek’s side and Derek’s arm ended up around his shoulders, “to grab popcorn easier”, and never left the spot.   
After the third movie Stiles fell asleep softly snoring while Derek finished watching the end of it. It felt right, it felt warm and safe and Derek pushed away the part of him that was scared of getting used to this and allowed himself to be selfish, just this time.

Derek woke up to Stiles terrified screaming again. He couldn’t sense anyone else but Stiles and himself in the loft. He knew no one was in his house and that the human couldn’t possibly be in any danger but that didn’t stop him from rushing up to his bedroom where he’d put him to bed about an hour ago.   
Derek scanned the room for any treat but couldn't find any. He rushed to the younger man fighting his nightmares like he did to many times and pulled him onto his lap while trying to calm him down.

“ Stiles, wake up. ” Derek had used his Alpha voice and as he expected Stiles eyes shot open and instantly locked with his. “ You’re okay. You’re safe, I'm here and I won’t let anyone hurt you, do you understand? ” 

Stiles heart was beating frantically and although he was looking at Derek it didn’t feel like he was seeing him.

“ Stiles I need you to come back to me.” Stiles blinked at him, looking pale and terrified.  
“ Look at my hands. Remember what I told you before? Count the fingers and if there are ten, you will know you're not dreaming anymore. Alright?” Stiles barely nodded, Derek just hoped he had gotten through.

“ How many fingers do you count Stiles? ”

“ T- Ten. ”

“ Good. ” Stiles was still a little out of it but Derek could see it was working. “ Now I want you to listen carefully, do you understand? ”

Once again Stiles nodded eyes locked with Derek’s Alpha red eyes.  
“ Good, you are doing great. ”   
Stiles swallowed thickly still having trouble to breath normally. “ From now on I’m going to sleep here with you alright? If I’m right next to you I'll be able to hear when your heart beat picks up and I’ll be able to wake you up before your nightmares get bad. Okay? ”

Stiles nodded again. “ I need you to say it, Stiles. I need to be sure you understand. ”

“ Yes, Alpha. ”

Derek had not been ready for that.  
Heat flared up like a blazing fire through his body at Stiles words.   
His wolf broke to the surface and he had to will his entire body not to go in complete shift and lose all control to his wolf as he buried his claws deep on the insides of his palms, clenching his elongated teeth together.   
It took a painfully long amount of time for him to calm down just a little and get back enough control to not do something he might regret later on. 

He opened his still glowing eyes to find Stiles soundlessly sleeping in his arms.  
Derek took a deep shuddering breath and moved Stiles back onto the bed.   
He then settled as far away as the king size bed allowed him to and stayed with his eyes glued to Stiles sleeping form.

Stiles words were playing over and over again in his head.   
Images of him saying those words in many different situations kept tormenting his self-control but most of all, images in which Stiles moaned those words to him in various different ways.   
Most pleadingly while he begged for Derek to take him, begged for him to bury himself deeper, needed for him to keep fucking him, pleaded with him to let him come and then finally he’d display his beautiful slender neck allowing Derek to claim him.

His skin was burning and he could feel his wolf trashing and it's anger and incomprehension at Derek, knowing that both the wolf and the human wanted Stiles.   
His wolf had never reacted this intensely to Stiles before, Derek never had been so close to losing control over it. Derek needed to keep it together, needed to convince his wolf that just being allowed near Stiles was already enough, Stiles was human, Stiles didn’t know.

His wolf didn’t agree, didn’t see why he couldn’t have his mate when his mate just declared him his Alpha.  
Reasoning that Stiles was out of it didn’t get them anywhere. Derek wanted to see it as unconscious sleep talk while his wolf saw it as his mate instinctively knowing who he was.

Needless to say he didn’t sleep that night.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cue Beat box: bum bum tchak bu-bum bu-bum tchak
> 
> Uhu Uhu  
> This one is for my real G's  
> leaving comments and on and kudos on my story  
> Yeah, the happiness is real so I'mma make you a deal  
> Next I give you Peter with some classic misbehaviour  
> BAMF Stiles action add some Alpha D reactions  
> and Wham! Bam! Slam!  
> That's chapter 14's spoiler Fam !


	14. The Creepy Creeper Wolf who creepingly crept ( bet you can’t say that fast 3x )

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter plays to much  
> Derek needs to align his chakras  
> & Stiles goes sky diving

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo this turned out much longer than I thought it would.

Stiles slid down the stairs in the most elegant way possible to humankind: flailing and nearly braining himself.  
As soon as he set foot on solid ground he got met by Derek’s unimpressed look.  
He punched on the staircase making the crutches he had purposely put there to fall down and land perfectly into his awaiting hands before rolling them like fighting sticks and set them back on the ground grinning at the still unimpressed Alpha.

“ It's okay I know you're impressed Sourwolf. In your head you’re probably like ‘Whoa! How did he do that!?’ Well Derek, three words: practice, practice, practice. ”

“ Please, stop trying to kill yourself on the stairs. The clean up would be to much work. ”

Stiles pouted at Derek and got to the table were he was probably working on a translation from Dothraki to elf or some other fancy language.

“ It's Spanish, Stiles. "  
Oops, did he say that out loud?

“ You still are. "

“ Yeah…uh, my brain to mouth filter is defect. "  
He sat down in the chair facing the wolf.

Derek counted exactly 8 seconds before Stiles started talking again.  
“ Soooo... are you planning on reading all day long or— Oh. "

He shoved the bestiary and the translation he had of it to him.   
It had been clear after the Fae treaty case that he should let Stiles help.   
He had proven to be very resourceful and apparently he did know way more than him or any of his pack did, aside from maybe Peter but Peter was never too willing to share information unless he got something out of it that is why Lydia had been the one who had translated it.  
Derek knew a lot of languages but archaic Latin had never been in his chords while Lydia on the other hand had studied it in high school a while ago. But even as smart as she was, she had run into some unknown words.

She'd probably have his head for letting Stiles have a look at it but if it could help the pack he was willing to take the risk.

Stiles blinked at the book and the translation papers then back at Derek.  
“ Are you sure? I mean, what changed your mind? ”

Yes, Alpha. Derek snapped out of it and scowled at Stiles.  
“ You said you could complete it. ”

“ So, no begging? Not even curly fries in compensation? ”

“ You already had curly fries yesterday. ”

“ Yeah but that was like a day ago! ” Stiles pouted at him. Derek’s eyes lingered on the human’s lips before going back to his own translation work.

“ No curly fries today. ”

“ Pschhh! At least bribe me with a percentage of your secret M&m’s stash. ”

Derek slowly lifted his head back and narrowed his eyes at Stiles cheshire cat grin.  
“ How did you find those? ”

“ A magician never reveals his tricks. ”

“ No more M&m’s for you. ”

“ What? Dude! ”

“ Don't call me dude. " Derek huffed. " How long do you need to finish translating it? "

“ Well I never got to finish reading the damn thing in the first place because one particularly grumpy Alpha had to grab me by the nec—.”

“ Stiles, how long."

"That wasn't even a question! "

“ Stiles. "

“ Okay, fine. ” The human lifted his hands in surrender. “ Well, from what I’ve seen the translations weren’t completed, that and the part that was needs to be checked for mistranslations. I saw some that could be seriously dangerous but like I said I didn’t read the whole thing, only twenty pages or so. I’m guessing, maybe a week or two?”

“ Finish it in five days and I’ll take you out to eat. "

Stiles' fell silent for a second blinking at the wolf.   
The Alpha realised he just about asked Stiles out on a date, making the wolf slightly nervous.   
A blush spread on Stiles’ cheeks and Derek couldn’t help but follow it with his eyes as it deepened.

“ You’re tricking me, I don’t even know if I have a chance at doing this in five days! ”  
Derek felt a rush of relief.

“ Not if you don't take naps and pop tart breaks. "

“ You know me to damn well.”  
Derek smiled at that.

“ Is... is that a smile on your own broody face? It feels like some kind of rare magical gold sparkly unicorn seen only once every thousand years. What is happening today? ”

“ Shut up, Stiles. "  
Obviously no smile was to be seen afterwards.

 

As strange as it seemed the always distracted, noisy and overly active human was capable of being silent. It had been going the entire day since the Alpha had asked him to finish translating the Bestiary.  
All there was to hear was his heartbeat, the scribble of his pen and the occasional turn off pages.  
It was so out of character that Derek had to look up and make sure the human was still really there.

First time he did so he hadn’t know what exactly he was looking at. Now he was once again looking at the human in a bit of awe.  
Stiles was staring with intense concentration at his work.   
A little concentration wrinkle between his eyebrows, a pencil held between his sinful lips and holding a pen in both hands while writing on two different papers which seemed to be both the left and right page of the open book in front of him. Occasionally he’d look up something on Laura’s old laptop Derek let him use.

Derek wanted to say something but nothing came to him so he just stared for a little longer amazed by what Stiles could do.   
Apparently when he started working Stiles barely spoke. It was disturbing.   
Derek constantly felt like he had to check if the human was really there even though he had already checked 20 minutes before when he’d had the same urge to check upon him.  
He just couldn’t concentrate on his translations.

Derek sighted and got up from his side of the table deciding that he needed to go for a run. The sun wasn’t completely down yet and he’d be back before night fell.  
He told Stiles so, barely getting a reaction out of him and got ready then left to go running.

The need to get rid of the excess of energy he had been piling up since he’d brought Stiles in was starting to be too much.   
Last night's incident was proof that he really needed some time to focus on his wolf and balance in order to be in full control again.

Stiles only lifted his eyes to admire Derek’s ass, looking so damn good in his running attire, then got back to work when the door closed behind the mumbling Alpha who mumbled something that sounded like mumbles.  
Alright, maybe he did clearly say he was going out for a run.

It had only been about ten minutes after Derek had left when the heavy loft door slid open again. The hair in the back of Stiles’ neck stood up and he just knew who ever had just entered wasn’t Derek.  
He kept control of his heartbeat and tried to win some time by pretending to be to caught up in his work to check the door right away. He scanned his surroundings for as far as his eyes could go without him lifting his head.

Stiles eyes landed on Derek’s paper knife? Really Derek? You have claws! Use them you hipster!  
Stiles then finally lifted his head to look at the intruder.

A man was casually leaning on the door, effectively blocking the exit to the loft, eyes zeroed in on him.  
They stared at each other for a moment, eyes never faltering. 

If not for the calculated sharpness in the man's eyes Stiles would have said he looked quite attractive.   
He was wearing a grey V-neck shirt revealing strong arms on a lean body. He seemed a little smaller than Derek but no less dangerous.

The man smiled at him and in an instant all traces of coldness had vanished.  
“ I was seriously doubting my nephew still had it in him but I see you found a way to get his head out of his ass. "

Stiles face flushed red.  
“ Wha-? Derek and I aren't... we don’t… we’re not…uh.” He cleared his throat feeling slightly trapped.

“ Really? You do reek of him thought, this entire place smells of the both of you.” Stiles furrowed his brows.

“ I’m sorry, who are you again? "

The man's eyebrows shot up in such a typical Derek way you'd have to be blind not to see the family resemblance.  
“ Cute. ” 

His eyes lingered on the bestiary Stiles was working on. The man’s smile suddenly looked a little more sharp than it had before.   
“ I'm Peter Hale, Derek's uncle. I heard one of the pups talking about a beautiful half dressed-fury throwing shoes at my nephew a few days ago. Since I couldn't think of anyone either stupid or brave enough to do that I had to come and see for myself if that person was still alive. ”

Stiles felt his jaw tense. he really didn't like the way the man was looking at him.  
“ Well, still alive and kicking. You can tell Isaac he's not allowed to compare me to a fury. Those are seriously disgusting. ”

Peter looked at him with a charmed smile.  
“ Met one before? ”

Dude, that thing nearly fucking eat him!  
“ Yeah, you could say that. ”

Peter's eyes lingered on the bestiary again and the cold glare was back on, calculating and sharp.  
“ I see... Hunter. And what exactly is the business you have with my nephew if you're not being his boy toy? ”  
Uhm, Rude! Stiles glared at the man.

“ Dude, First of all, I’m not a hunter. Second, ‘boy toy’? Really? Someone should let you know that you’ve got some seriously creepy creeper vibes going on. Guess I just did, so I’m gonna have to ask you to comeback when Derek’s home. ”

Peter laughed at that and started walking slowly towards him.  
Stiles could recognise it for what it was. A predator walk.   
Peter paused by the end of the table.

“ You’re a feisty one, I like that. ” Stiles didn’t do anything to hide the grimace on his face. “ You know, it reminds me that word has been spreading around about a young man actively being searched for by the Argents.”

Stiles was careful to keep his heartbeat and facial expression in check, trying not to let out any betraying emotions.   
Peter nodded, looking like he could see right through it anyways and took another step.

“ See I heard he caused an explosion at the Argents' headquarters, helping quite a lot of prisoners escape. I heard he is a runaway, a rogue hunter, traitor to their cause and extremely dangerous. I even heard who ever finds him gets heavily rewarded by the Argents. ”  
Gerard put a fucking bounty on his head?! Shit!  
“ Now why on earth would the infamous cute Little Red Riding Hood be here, hiding out at my nephew's place. ”

Stiles blankly stared at the man.  
“ Okay, Nice fairy tale, dude. Like I said come back when Derek’s—”

Peter rounded the table so fast Stiles barely had the time to grab the paper knife and press the tip to the wolf's throat.  
“ Don't play dumb with me, Little Red. That won't harm me. ”

“ Try me, creep. I'll twist it so far in there your body won't be able to reject it. ”

Peter was about to snarl something back when he got thrown off of him hitting the closest wall. Derek's roar even made him squirm unconsciously baring his throat for too long before he could manage to snap his head back in place.

The movement didn't escape Peter.   
His eyes flicked from Stiles to Derek as he seemed to try to catch a sent. All was silent, Stiles could hear his heartbeat thundering in his ears as he watched Derek's back all wolfed out on his uncle.

Did he... did he just defend him against his own uncle?  
Peter started laughing. A cold heartless laugh.

“ Again, Derek? Didn't you have enough with Kate?!” Peter looked at his nephew, with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. “ I don't care if he's Red Riding. Even if he is the one who has been saving all those supernatural creatures. Once a Hunter always a Hunter, and of course you’d pick an Argent! Because just a rogue hunter with a hero complex isn’t enough! ”   
Peter stood back up from where he’d been thrown, furiously glaring at Stiles. “ This can’t be real. What did you do to him?! ”

All Stiles’ could manage was the shocked expression he’d been wearing since Derek stormed in.

“ Leave. ” Peter looked at his nephew like he had gone crazy and to be honest, so was Stiles.

“ Derek, this can’t be right! ”

“ I said LEAVE! ”  
Peter’ stare was unreadable. He stared at Stiles before turning around to leave.  
“ If you ever try harm him again, in any way, you'll have to run. ”

Peter just glanced at his Alpha and closed the door behind him.  
Derek stayed panting still wolfed out and staring at the door. It took a moment before Stiles dared to take a breath.

Slowly he stood up and carefully reached out to touch the wolf.  
Stiles got pushed on the table so fast he didn't get time to register what was happening.  
All he could focus on was Derek crashing his lips onto his. 

He was clinging onto the paper knife for dear life not understanding what was happening. His body wasn't responding to him anymore only following Derek's commands.   
Derek was grinding against him, getting him hard in the blink of an eye.   
Losing all rationality he moaned into Derek's rough kisses as he felt the build up tension lead his body to fold for every single one of Derek’s demands or needs. The way he needed to feel his touch was nearly painful.

Stiles dropped the paper knife and buried his hands in Derek’s hair while Derek started kissing, biting and licking every spot he could get to, making shivers run over his entire body as his Alpha marked him over and over again.  
“ He can't ever touch you again. ”

Derek's voice was raw and making his skin impossibly more hot. He scraped his blunt nails at Derek’s back earning himself a growl that rumbled through his core and made the hair on his arms rise up.  
“ No one can ever hurt you again. You're Mine. ”

Stiles felt all blood rush south. The painful erection he got from those words at least helped him get some of his senses back  
“ Please, Derek. Ah-”

“ Mine, only mine. ”   
Derek gave another hard rut against Stiles erection causing him to gasp and arch up to his Alpha.  
“ Oh, fuck! ”

“ Say it. ”

Stiles nodded frantically. “ I’m yours, only yours Alpha. ”  
Wait.. what had he just said? Since when did he refer to Derek as his Alpha? How did that even happen? He didn’t remember anything about humans feeling the pull of an Alpha like betas or omegas. Yet it sounded right. This was confusing. He needed to figure this out.

Derek approvingly growled at Stiles’ happy trail before leaving kisses as he followed it.  
“ Only mine. ”

“ Derek, wait. "

Derek briefly looked at him and that was enough to get Stiles back to his senses.   
Derek's eyes were glowing red, Stiles could see the wolf but no trace of the human. Derek wasn't being himself. His wolf had completely taken over. The time it took for him to realise this, Derek was going down on him again.

“ Derek? Derek, please. ”

Derek was feeling great. He felt fantastic even. Stiles was under him right there, panting, shivering with pleasure as he wore his marks, looking so good for him. Looking so fucking good.

“ Derek? A-are you with me again? ”

He didn’t want to get out of this haze, right now he just wanted to get an other nip at his mates’ beautifully dotted skin.

“ Derek-nhhh ah! Der, please Der, come back to me. Stop you-hhh! No, stop! I can’t, not if you’re not your complete self. ”  
Derek got pulled back by Stiles’ voice.

Stiles could see the exact moment when Derek got to himself again. He didn’t know if he should embrace the humour of it or cry at the reaction of his Alpha. The Alpha. Dammit, Derek. Just Derek.

“ Shit. ” Derek nearly fell as he rushed to get off of Stiles. “ I'm sorry, are you okay? ”

“ I’m perfectly fine. My self confidence not so much but, hey, at least you saved my ass so what more could I want? ” Stiles leaned on his elbows to get a better look at the confused expression on Derek’s face.  
“ When your wolf takes over like that what do you remember? ” 

Stiles watched Derek’s caterpillar brows do their little dance before settling for furrowing. He wanted to touch them. He really did.

“ It doesn’t usually happen. I’m a born wolf, I’m one with my wolf and my wolf is one with me. I don’t have to deal with it like turned wolves do. ”

Stiles rubbed his face. He didn’t even know what that meant. Was he the reason why Derek had lost control over his wolf? Did that mean that wolf Derek liked him but not human Derek?  
“ Okay… how about you ask the questions? ”

Derek nodded looking at how Stiles sat back up.  
“ What happened with my uncle? Why did he lash out at you? ”

Stiles looked at the wolf ignoring the ache in his chest and how cold his body felt without the wolf’s warmth.

“ He came in here and asked about you. He said he heard your beta’s talking about me. ” Stiles stared at Derek. “ Did you know I was Red from the start? ”

Derek’s brows furrowed again.  
“ I assumed you were. ”

“ When? ”

“ Right away. ”

“ Are you keeping me to sell me off to the Argents? ”  
Derek made a repulsed face.

“ Don’t be ridiculous. ”

“ Oh well excuse me, your highness King Broody of Sourwolfia but I nearly got gutted by your seriously creepy uncle, so I can be as ridiculous as I want to be, thank you very much. ”  
Derek scowled at him.

“ I would never even consider it. ” Stiles glared at him not nearly intimidating the Alpha. “ I'm going to take a shower. You should too, your peasant smell is invading my kingdom. ”

Stiles got completely thrown off at that. He wasn't suppressing a smile, no, not at all.  
“ I'm trying to be offended here, can’t be if you go around cracking jokes! And I showered this morning, you ass! I demand a change of regime! ”

Derek stopped in the middle of the staircase and gave him a look. “ Demand rejected.” Then disappeared up stairs. 

Stiles’ grinned then realised.  
“ Wait! Were you asking me to join you? Derek? Derek, were you—?! Damn it! ”

 

Derek jerked off twice before finally managing to calm down enough to get out of the shower. He was dangerously close to losing control over his wolf like he had just before. Stiles had been more than receptive to him. He’d been pliant and wanting and ready for him. He’d been smelling like he was Derek’s, smelling like mate.

Somehow Derek had known something was happening. He’d felt Stiles' discomfort and angst even though he was already at the border of the preserve.

Derek got dressed and got back downstairs where Stiles was working on the Bestiary again. He started cooking and had to tear Stiles away from it to get him to eat.

Derek wasn’t the only one caught up in his own thoughts though and Stiles had questions that were starting to pile up and no answers to them whatsoever.   
Alpha… Why the hell did he call Derek Alpha? And why the hell did that make him feel warm and mushy inside? It made no frigging sense! It didn’t, did it?  
He wasn’t even sure if he actually wanted that answer.

“ Tell me about your pack. ” Derek swallowed a bite and looked at Stiles. “ Ugh, common Der, you don't have to look at me like that. I am not planning anything, I just want to… you know? Get to know you a little. ”

Derek didn't hear any stutter in the human's heart beat.  
“ There's my sister Cora, my three betas Isaac, Erica and Boyd, there’s Lydia, my cousin Malia and Kira, Jackson, my uncle Peter whom you have met today and Scott."

“ That’s it? Common man. What are they like? Are they grumpy and wear leather like you? ”  
Derek watched as Stiles licked some stray sauce off his slender fingers and tried to convince himself that he was not affected by it at all.

“ Aside from Peter, they are all about your age. Cora my little sister, she’s… angry at the world, she used to smile a lot more. Isaac is shy but he’s slowly opening up, right now he is staying at Scott’s, Erica and Lydia… don’t ever get them angry at you, especially not simultaneously. Ever. ”   
Stiles couldn't help but laugh at that. 

“ Boyd is a very loyal friend, quiet but always there when you need him. Malia is probably the boldest person you’ll ever meet in your life. Kira is kind of new in the pack, she’s Malia’s girlfriend I don’t know her that well yet but she seems nice and then there’s Jackson, he’s a spoiled brat… unbearable. I don’t know how Lydia manages to keep him in tow, that girl is just… something, definitely not human. They all went to the same high school.” 

Derek saw a glimpse of sadness in Stiles' smile at the mention of school.   
“ What was it like, being part of it... The Argents. "

Stiles' looked small and helpless for all but the blink of an eye.

“ I was never part of it. I was more like a stray dog they picked up to turn into their personal little soldier when that didn’t work I got promoted to punching bag. They're all brainwashed by Gerard. Chris his son pretends he doesn’t see what is happening, just like my sister Ally. Gerard’s daughter Kate, she’s just … completely disturbed, a totally psycho, I swear she’s running for president of hell. Ennis is a sick fuck who kills just because he can and Ally’s mom Veronica would stab herself in the heart if Gerard asked her to, she blindly follows Gerard just like the rest of his soldiers. Well, all but Ally and Chris, Allison’s dad. They still follow the code. I'm glad I blew up the place. I'd do it all over again just to see their faces when they realised the armoury was gone too. ”

Stiles took a huge bite of his piece of honey chicken like it had personally offended him. Derek snorted.

“ What? ”

“You must be the worst hunter I’ve ever met.”

“ Dude, not a hunter, remember? Honestly, the only thing I regret is that I never got to find or see the adoption papers, so I don’t know who my real parents where I just know they’re both dead and that my dad was a sheriff and he was friends with Chris that’s why he took me in. ” Stiles sighted. “ Anyways, I never wanted to be part of it. Gerard just kept forcing and pressuring me to follow their family tradition, so I used the training and became the opposite of what he wanted me to be. At first it was just little things like how I would bring food and water to the prisoners they were keeping. I got busted by Ennis once. ” 

Stiles gave a heartless snicker.  
“ Lemme just say that did not go well for me. I was fourteen the first time I decided that I couldn’t sit still and do nothing. Gerard had heard of a pack of were-coyotes living in Ohio. They hadn’t done anything wrong, Gerard didn’t have any reason to hurt them! So I checked out the plans they had made and the maps of the recent location they’d been spotted and figured out where they would be before they would. Back then they still let Greenburg do the tailing so I managed to mislead him and mess up the plans. They got lost for two days in the woods. That was about enough time for me to find the pack and convince them to go into hiding. I think they started the whole Red Riding Hood nickname. I just know I had couldn’t keep wearing my favourite hoodie because of it.”  
Stiles smiled at his plate, then seemed to remember something as his face lit up.

“ Oh! Listen, there was that one time they forced me to go on a hunting trip. And Ennis was the team leader. And Greenberg and Ennis together is like dumb and dumber together. So we were out on the mission and I recognised some signs of goblin activity, I still don’t know how they missed it but I just made sure Greenberg would walk us right into their den. We had to run for our lives! There were about fifty of them and we were a team of six! I had never seen Ennis that angry before but nobody could take him seriously because one of the goblins had hit him with that really smelly powder which made mushrooms grow on his skin. So there he was Yelling at Greenburg for leading us into a Goblin nest and the more he got angry the bigger the mushroom grew. When we got back to the head quarters he had that ginormous mushroom on the top of his head it was amazing! ” 

Derek observed Stiles and how he spoke animatedly using his hands and managing to hit his own glass or swirling pieces of food around as he made exaggerated movements with his fork still in his hand.  
Stiles laugh was infectious and soon Derek was laughing along with him.

Stiles found himself laughing more than he had in the past years of his life, sharing memories with Derek and laughing about each others stories.   
It felt nice, Derek felt nice. He made him feel like he could be himself.   
Derek was safe and it scared Stiles how close they'd gotten in the little time they’d spent together.  
He didn’t want this to end. Him referring to Derek as his Alpha did make sense.   
Derek fed him, took care of him and provided him with security. But most of all Derek was becoming home, a safe place. Stiles didn’t really know how to stop it, and even if he did he knew he wouldn’t. He was falling for Derek. 

It was stupid and the worse idea he could possibly have but it just felt right. Just like calling Derek Alpha had felt right.   
He wanted to laugh with Derek and bicker with him and feel wanted by him, he wanted to keep waking up next to him and steal his covers and keep find his secret M&m’s, Twinkies and Kit Kat stashes just so the Alpha could hide them all over again.   
He wanted Derek’s warmth, random grumpiness and bushy eyebrows. He wanted it and it was to late for him not to anymore.

Stiles turned over on the bed and looked at the Alpha’s sleeping form in the dark. Derek had insisted to help him up the stairs when Stiles had started falling asleep. He had helped him put on the borrowed clothes he’d gotten from him and changed the bandages on his ankle for new fresh ones. All the while Stiles’ eyes had never left him.   
He’d watched how Derek was carefully taking care of him as if there was only them in the world, as if both of them were allowed to have moments like this not caring about the outside world, as if he was just Derek and Stiles was just Stiles nothing more and nothing less.

“ You’re a good guy Derek, I wish you knew that. ” His whisper only got a soft snoring sound as answer. Stiles smiled at the sleeping alpha and fell into an easy sleep.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright you guys, It is possible that I update only in two weeks due to stupid exams and retakes and bleh bleh bleeeeh  
> stupid exams! 
> 
> What I can say tho, is that I have some wild *Cora enters stage* going on in chapter 15, so stay tuned because Stiles meets Pack is getting closer and closer. 
> 
> Kudos to y'all for still reading this story.  
> To the Bookmarkers: Wazzaaaaaaaa !  
> To the Commenters: You make me smile when it rains you guys. #mantear  
> To the Kudo Gifters: Ohana means family, my man!


	15. Cora's frustration and Derek's hopes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hurricane Cora Hale

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! First of all, big thanks to y'all for still being with me and leaving kudos and commenting!  
> As expected I couldn't post last weekend.  
> Forgive my humble self!

If anyone would have ever told him that one day he’d enjoy translating a Bestiary for a dark, hot and broody Alpha werewolf Stiles probably would have gotten them some mental help.  
But here he was, actually enjoying himself.  
The efficient translation of the book that Derek had shoved at him days ago along with the bestiary intrigued him. 

Okay, it was mistranslated but It was done so intelligently. The markings were clear and straight to the point and he could understand how the person who translated this had thought of these words. It made him want to meet this person.  
He’d have to ask Derek about it later.

Translating also kept him from going crazy sitting all day next to the hottest person he’d ever laid eyes on, and might or might not be falling for, and not touch him like he really wanted to.  
He needed to keep it together before he started popping awkward boners.  
Maybe he should just walk a little through the loft, air his head. Plus he’d managed to get around using only one crutch this morning so he might as well start fluttering around like the graceful butterfly he was.

He got distracted from his mental rambling session and the translation he was holding when Derek gave a heavy worn out sight and stood up from the sofa where he’d been doing his own freelance translating.

“ What’s up, Buttercup? ”

Derek didn’t even react to his cringing nickname, he just looked a little lost and rubbed the back of his neck looking uncomfortable. That was definitely unusual.

“ Derek, what’s going on? ”  
Derek could hear the underlying worry in Stiles’ voice and straightened his posture trying to reassure Stiles that everything was under control.

“ Stiles just, stay calm, okay? ”

He didn’t get the time to ask what for.  
The loft's door slammed open.

“ Cora, calm down. ”

“ What the hell, Derek! ”

Derek sighted as Stiles observed the tree people who had barged in.  
He recognised Isaac right away with his blonde curls and slightly bewildered expression and he would have kept staring at the stunning red haired girl, who barely acknowledged him but a wolfed out girl was coming straight for him.  
His reaction was immediate.  
He kicked his crutch forward making her trip and face plant before she could reach him.  
“ Stiles! ”

“ I’m sorry but I'm not having another one of your betas using me as their chew toy. Fragile human here. ”

The girl ignored Derek’s outstretched hand and stood up growling and… she was looking impossibly more pissed than she had before.

“ I'll rip your throat out. ”  
Stiles' eyes shot to Derek then back at the girl.

“ Derek’s sister I presume? I mean, the expressive eyebrows and the catch phrase and all. ”

“ Derek, why would you keep a filthy hunter here? Did he threaten you? ”

“ Wow, must be a family thing. ” Although he had muttered, it had been heard loud and clear and both wolves turned to either flash red eyes at him in a warning or full on growl at him.  
Stiles just gave them a pointed look.

Derek raised his eyebrows at him wordlessly telling him to back off to which Stiles rolled his eyes lifting his hands in surrender before crossing them to lean back in his chair.  
The moment he did the beautiful red-haired girl seemed to notice the bestiary he’d been working on and was now all up in his space.

“ How did you get this? " She took the papers he had before he could stop her then blatantly ignored him and his indignant “ Hey! ”  
She turned to Derek so fast Stiles was sure he would’ve had a whiplash if he tried that. 

“ You let him see the bestiary?! What were you thinking?! ”

“ Clearly, he was thinking straight. His translation was filled with mistakes and missing information, it could have gotten all of you killed. But this amazing person I am was saving the day before you and Cujo here, barged in. ”  
Isaac groaned obviously reacting to the dog reference Stiles was making.

“ How dare you!? ”

“ Enough! Everyone, Shut up! ”  
Derek's Alpha voice resonated in the lofts open space making Isaac and the wolfed out girl bare their throats. Stiles’ noticed how the girl who was still holding his translation papers in her hands seemed to be the only one not subduing.  
So she was not a werewolf. Either human or something else… oh, that must be Lydia.

Derek towered over his betas. He was being both intimidating and… seriously hot.  
“ Shift back. ”  
The girl clearly didn’t want to but still followed her Alpha’s command.  
As soon as she had changed back she lifted her eyebrows at Derek.  
Yup, definitely Derek's sister, expressive eyebrows and scowling face.  
Derek huffed.

“ This is Stiles. He’s…” Seeing as how Derek was hesitating Stiles decided they might as well get over it right away.

“ Stiles, I’m here because I'm on the run from the Argents, Derek’s helping me out. Nice to meet you. ”

“ Peter said he was Red Riding. ”

Isaac looked lost.  
“ Wait... I thought Little Red Riding Hood was a children story. ”  
Lydia sighted.  
“ No, Red Riding, Isaac. The one that has been saving supernatural creatures from hunters like the Argents."

" Innocent supernatural creatures. I don't just go around saving anyone. ”  
Lydia looked him up and down. Was she sizing him up?  
“ You don't look your part. "

“ I call it strategic camouflage. No one ever thinks the skinny human is a badass."  
For a second he thought she would smile before it disappeared again.

" Peter said he’s a rogue hunter."

" He's... Stiles."

“ What the hell is a Stiles? "

“ That's my name. Well not really, my real name is literally unpronounceable. "  
Derek gave him a look that said they'd have to talk about this later.  
Cora was still growling low.

“ I. Don’t. Care. He's dangerous. "

“ He’s not, he isn’t even an Argent. ”

“ What do you mean not even an Argent? Derek, you’re helping an Argent?! Didn’t you have enough with Kate?! I can’t believe you! ”  
Stiles noticed this was the second time Kate was mentioned and now it was confirmed they were talking about Kate Argent.

Stiles lifted his hands in a time out stance.  
“ Hold on, first, no, like Derek said I’m not an Argent and if you’d actually let us explain you’d know that I don’t qualify as a hunter either. And then, Kate? As in Kate Argent? Gerard’s total mess of a daughter? What on earth does that psychopath have to do with this? ”

None of the werewolves seemed to be willing to answer him. Isaac shifted uncomfortably, Cora’s glare seemed unsure and Lydia seemed to be trying to read into his soul with the stare she directed at him but Derek, well Derek plainly refused to look at him.  
Stiles’ mind was racing with all the possibilities of Kate being involved with Derek and his pack, nothing but horrific scenarios came to his mind.  
It made his blood boil with anger as he rose to his feet.

“ What the hell did that bitch do to you? "

They all stared at the human from whom waves of anger were radiating like a storm.  
Cora was tempted to step back, she understood what Isaac had meant when he had described the human as a fury.  
“ Stiles, stay out of it. "

If she hadn’t been standing right next to him, Cora would have missed the strong wave of arousal coming off her brother due to Stiles’ radiating anger filling up the loft.  
Her head snapped back to her Alpha who flashed his eyes at her in warning. She finally believed what Peter had told her. His voice played back in her head.  
“ Good news Cora! Derek found his mate and guess what? It’s a cute little hunter and he’s this close to claiming him. ”

She snapped her head back to the human and could smell what she hadn’t paid attention to before. This Stiles human smelled of her brother, their smells were intertwined and … it smelled right.  
They smelled like they completed each other, it reminded her of the way her parents smelled so bad that this time she had to take a step back trying to force down the memories and unwanted emotions from boiling over.

This was what she’d smelled on Derek a couple nights ago, but so much stronger.  
She would have been disgusted at how she could smell that Derek hadn’t completed their bond yet but the human already smelled like pack, already smelled safe and like home.

“ Is he really your—? ”

“ Don’t. ” 

Cora couldn't believe it. No way the human didn’t know about this. He was an Argent! He had to be manipulating her brother. This couldn’t be real.  
She turned to the human who was watching them with a confused expression on his face, anger forgotten to watch them.  
“ What did you do to him?! Did you use magic?! What did you do?! "

“ Cora, back down! "

She saw her brother move so he could intervene if she attacked his stupid flailing mess of a mate.

“ He's a fucking Argent Hunter, Derek! For all you know he’s using you! ”  
Stiles snorted getting all their attention on him.

“ Ah yes, you have uncovered my secret evil plan to take over the world. That was my plan all along! " Stiles rolled his eyes at her and dropped the fake movie villain act. " I obviously posses the muscle power to make Derek do anything I want him to do. Because I’m Red Riding the super psycho villain who goes around killing anyone and anything that moves and somehow managed to brainwash your Alpha Werewolf brother into submission. Seems to me like you lack faith in your Alpha. ”

That hit Derek square in the chest.  
Leave it to Stiles to figure this shit out in only 10 minutes spent with just three of his pack members. Derek tried to regain a little calm while Cora threatened Stiles over his sarcastic answer.

“ Enough! ” Derek pinched the bridge of his nose trying to regain some composure. “ Pack meeting, tomorrow. If any of you actually bother to show up we can talk about the situation at hand and what's to happen next. For now, go cool off."

Cora just gave her brother a furious glare.  
“ Are you serious right now?! ”

“ He is nothing like her!” Derek’s closed off face didn’t show anything but she knew how much his next hushed words took out of him. “ I could never do that to us again. ”

Cora searched her brothers face for something else than a his usual mask, she could feel how much he wanted her to understand but she found so much more.  
For the first time in years she recognised something else than plain anger in Derek’s eyes. She saw his plea, his frustration, his fear and hope.

Cora couldn’t remember Derek ever being this open about anything even when they were both younger, he hadn’t even been like that for Kate or Page if she remembered correctly.  
Hadn’t Boyd told her that Derek was starting to change for the good? But unlike him she didn’t want to believe this Stiles person could be the reason for it.

She wanted to claw at the human’s face, roar at him, rip apart the obvious bond between him and his brother but she could never do that.  
This was different, Kate and Derek hadn’t had a bond. This was different because this human was Derek’s mate. This was different because her wolf was already recognising him as pack, it rendered it impossible for her to attack him.  
She was helpless.

“ Cora. ”  
Cora felt how the warmth of her brother’s hand on her shoulder completely tamed her wolf. She didn’t want that. She wanted to be angry, wanted to howl, wanted to rage against her brother and his stupid mate but all she could find was hollow sadness.  
Cora gave a frustrated human roar before storming away.

“ He is nothing like her. "  
He knew Cora heard his whisper and Isaac too but she didn't react as she disappeared out of the loft.

Lydia had been ignoring the whole drama as she scanned through Stiles work and notes.  
She handed Stiles the papers back with a seemingly displeased expression. This guy’s work was impeccable. His handwriting was a disaster but thanks to him the Bestiary finally made sense.  
No one had ever outsmarted her. He was both a personal offence and maybe even a worthy intellectual opponent, which she hadn’t had in ages.

“ This… " she pierced her lips together in a line, holding words back. “ Keep going. ”  
She then gave Derek a nod and turned around to follow Cora.

Stiles realised now that she had probably been the one who had translated the bestiary and Stiles had just about told her it was bullshit.  
The sound of her stiletto’s clicking away on the ground was nothing else but frightening, was she imitating a ticking clock? Was she telling him that his time was counted? Was she going to kill him in his sleep for insulting her work?

Only Isaac remained shifting uneasily on his legs before he carefully approached Stiles sniffing the air a little.  
And if that was not the most weirdly adorable puppy-like shit Stiles had ever seen someone do, then he didn't know himself.

Isaac could smell it stronger now. Stiles smelled like pack. He didn't sense any danger coming from the human. He didn't really look harmful either.  
Stiles gave a little smile at the other guy.  
“ Hey, man, I'm not gonna harm you. Promise. "

The boy still gave a look at his alpha who nodded before he rubbed a hand on Stiles' shoulder “ See you at the Pack meeting tomorrow. ” and left too.

Stiles blinked at the now empty loft before turning to Derek.  
“ He sent marked you. ”

“ Oh. So... he's my first friend in your pack? ”

“ You could say so. ”

They both stayed silent for a bit.  
“ Well... meeting with the family could have been worse. ”

" Let's hope Pack meeting won't be. "

" Oh, boy. "

 

Derek found himself sitting outside in his Camaro after having ran.  
He’d only did it because Stiles insisted he needed it, and he really had. It had been over a week since he’d been able to run in his wolf form and a whole lot of tension had been lifted with the shift.

He’d let his wolf take over and howl to the moon as it revelled in the freedom of the forest. He hadn’t wanted to stay out too long not wanting to leave Stiles alone for longer than necessary even as the human had insisted he wouldn’t mind.

He sat outside his building for a little while longer.  
What on earth was his life even? His pack was barely holding together, his only remaining relatives were pissed at him for something nor him or Stiles had any control over and Stiles was… the only one who seemed to understand.

He couldn’t and didn’t want to give up on him. Maybe with time Cora and Peter could get along with him? He’d have to believe it would get better but how? He had no idea how to even be a good Alpha let alone fix this situation.

Derek sighted for what seemed to be the trillionth time that day.  
If Laura was still here she would have found a solution in no time.  
What would Laura do? He missed her.  
Derek decided not to stay out any longer wallowing in his self-pity and got back to the loft.

 

Stiles had a lot of questions. Like what did Kate have to do with the reaction of Derek's uncle and sister towards him for starters.  
That was much more than the usual werewolf’s reaction to a potential threat.  
After yesterday with Peter and today with Cora Derek would probably close off completely if he asked.  
Even though the question was burning on his tongue, he could see how affected Derek was by this, he just knew he wouldn’t be able to press him for answers today so at least he could try to make him feel a little better.

Stiles had just finished setting the table when Derek walked back in. He’d been gone for two hours giving him plenty of time to scrap something together and cook them some bacon and spinach tagliatelle even finish a tray of chocolate chip cookies.

Derek looked the most content he’d ever seen him. The tension had left his shoulders, and a slight hint of a smile played on his lips when their eyes met.

Even his eyebrows of eternal doom seemed less threatening than usual.  
He still waited for Derek to have finished eating before asking about tomorrow.

“ What is pack meeting? ”

“ We come together and discuss recent events, what has to be done or look for solutions if someone has complains. Sometimes on full moons we run together. ”

“ Oh... that sounds... very serious. ”  
Derek didn’t answer.  
“ Is the Pack going to vote whether I can stay or not? ”

“ I'm not kicking you out Stiles. Stop thinking I will. ”

“ Your sister and uncle don't like me Derek. ”

“ It's not up to them and we have more serious matters to discuss like patrol shifts to reaffirm territory and planning training sessions for the week. ” Stiles took the remote and started zapping through channels trying to occupy his hands.

“ Dude, Do you guys ever have fun? ”

“ Don't call me dude. ”

Derek took away the remote to settle on a history channel, effectively ignoring Stiles' pouting.

“ Okay but... maybe you could actually think of, you know, fun stuff to do. I mean this all sounds so... Strict. ”

“ Don't tell me how to run my pack. ”  
Derek glared at the younger man who retaliated with a glare of his own.

“ I'm not even trying to tell you how to run your pack. I’m just saying that I never had any fun at the Argents’ mansion, it was training and studying and being tormented all the time but I sure as hell wouldn't have minded some distraction once in a while. It still wouldn’t have been a healthy environment, I know, but maybe it would have helped get through it with at least some good memories of them. ”

Stiles looked at Derek’s scowl not knowing if anything he had said had gotten through to him.  
Derek turned his attention back to the book he had been reading and Stiles frustratingly grabbed the remote again switching through channels.

Even as he tried to deepen himself back into his book Derek's thoughts went back to what Stiles had said.  
Maybe Stiles was right, maybe he could make it more enjoyable for the pack and himself. Maybe if he tried it, it would peak their interest and they would start seeing he could be a good Alpha and that he does care.  
If he took a different approach maybe Scott would finally stop challenging him and Isaac could move back in with him, Lydia would actually be able to have a normal conversation with him and Boyd and Erica would really start feeling at ease, maybe Jackson would also stop being such a selfish asshole but that sounded a little too beautiful to be true.

Derek pondered over it for a while.  
He was so deep in his thoughts he didn't notice Stiles had scooted closer to lean against him until an unusual feeling of calm and content settle in him.  
Stiles’ heartbeat was erratic obviously not sure whether or not he would be rejected.

His first thought was to move away put some distance between the human who was able to make him feel like this, but fighting both his wolf and his own selfish desires over it when Stiles was showing him affection was a lost cause.  
He needed this, Stiles calmed him, anchored him.  
He lifted his arm up granting him access to slide under it and rest his head on his chest.

“ I’m sorry I tripped your sister, Derek. I’ll try my best tomorrow. Maybe… maybe if I can explain, they’ll see I’m not like the Argents. ”  
Derek rubbed his nose in the younger man’s hair and hummed lightly.  
He wasn’t happy with their situation either but he’d have to try if he wanted this to work, for Stiles and himself, for Cora, Peter and the Pack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well will you look at that!  
> Pack chapter is up ahead!  
> We're getting there my dudes! We've come so far, we've come so damn far. *frat-bro tear*
> 
> Anyways !  
> Last week of exams yoooooo !!!  
> I'm so done with it, it's Ridiculous, preposterous, insaneitous, illigalous, antihappinesous, lackofsleepous, and other words ending with -ous


	16. Pack, Stiles. Stiles, Pack.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meet the Hale Pack, Protectors of Bacon Hills and a pain in Dereks ass

Stiles had been fidgeting nervously around the loft since this morning.   
He hadn't been able to concentrate on the Bestiary too distracted by all the possible out comes of the pack meeting tonight so instead he had been stress baking which was pretty new for him.   
Instead of looking into it deeper he obliged with his new found urges and kept his hands busy but even that didn't work long and his thoughts creeped back to the Pack meeting. 

What if they hated him? What if they all reacted like Cora did and he gets attacked again and Derek isn't there to intervene?   
What if one of them is allergic to the blueberry muffins he made in his stress induced rush and dies and Stiles gets blamed?   
No, no, werewolves didn't die from allergies but he should make a second tray of cookies to be sure. 

Oh, shit! What if they could still smell wolfsbane on him?! Dammit, he'd already taken two showers but he should shower again, just to be sure.   
But what if he had to perform a secret battle ritual to be able to stay with Derek and his Pack?   
Was that even a thing? Would he have to fight them to prove his worth? He wasn't completely healed yet but he was sure if he had his knives he could... 

Derek could feel his mate's nervousness from the other side of the loft. It had been going on all day and he'd had to convince him more than once that it would all be fine but somehow Stiles constantly started getting nervous again. 

Derek slowly snaked his arms around his mate's waist and felt how he leaned back on him letting some of the tension leave his body as he nosed at the back of his ear.   
He was glad Stiles allowed him to touch him every time he did.   
He knew humans weren't as physical as werewolves but he was lucky his mate wasn't like that. 

" Let's not bring the knives into this. " 

" Wha-? Why would you think that? "   
Stiles could feel Derek smiling as he nosed at his neck and feared he would melt right there. His proximity made him warm all over.   
Yeah, that was a new thing too. Apparently his nervousness affected Derek enough that the Alpha constantly needed to make sure he was okay by sentmarking him, he certainly wasn't going to complain about it. 

Derek rumbled low when Stiles slightly inclined his head giving him better access to his neck.   
" I know you well enough and I am not risking anyone getting hurt. " Stiles wanted to protest but Derek was first. " You get that glint in your eyes whenever you even just think of them. " 

" Oh. " More than that didn't leave his mouth.   
Did Derek know what he was doing to him or was that really just another wolfy thing?   
Because Stiles was fighting really hard not to turn around and climb him like mount Everest, consequences be damned. 

" They won't hurt you, Stiles. They'll be on their guard, that doesn't mean we need to give them a reason to be. " The human just nodded holding on to his arms and Derek admired the way his ears turned bright red. 

 

Stiles still managed to finish both the muffins and the cookies before any of Derek's pack arrived. He was letting them cool off and checking the cookies in the oven while Derek aired the loft a little. He’d told Stiles that the loft smelled of the both of them and they could use some fresh air.   
Stiles hadn't needed him to put into words what exactly he could smell.   
He knew it was probably a lot of sexual frustration, much of it was probably from him. 

Derek didn't really know what the pack had heard from Isaac and Lydia.   
He figured they'd all heard about Isaac meeting a half naked Stiles in his loft last week but didn't know if they had heard anything else of what happened last night with Cora or the night before with Peter.   
He did get a text from Erica saying that she couldn't believe he was actually getting some action in the bedroom.   
He hadn't answered back. Only glared at his phone. 

Stiles looked at the Alpha from where he was standing in the kitchen. Derek seemed... excited?   
A little smile was constantly tugging at his lips and Stiles could barely believe this was the stoic grumpy cat he usually woke up to.   
A very hot grumpy cat, who was a total cuddler in his sleep and had really sexy bed hair going on in the morning. 

Apparently Derek's pack didn't get together a lot and that bothered him. Derek seemed to have taken his advice about making Pack meetings more enjoyable and was making arrangements for pizza to be delivered.   
Stiles knew their names along with the very brief descriptions Derek had given of them when he asked again. 

There was Erica " Don't stay too close to her, actually don't get anywhere near her. ", Boyd " Loyal, good friend ", Isaac " He used to be so innocent "   
Scott who was apparently a " bad influence on Isaac ", Malia " Brutally honest. ", Kira " If Malia starts to be to much try to get her to help. "   
Lydia " Just... don't get on her bad side anymore than you already are.", Jackson " Brat. "   
His uncle Peter and Cora, Derek's little sister.   
Derek had told him that, aside from Derek himself and Peter, they were all about his age. 

It had been a very long time since he had been around people his own age and he didn't really know what they talked about or what they liked.   
Probably not knife throwing or missions like he and Ally occasionally talked about.   
From what Disney channel had thought him, people his age liked football, frat parties, make up, rumours and breaking into songs at random. 

Hey, don't you blame him! That's like the only cartoon channel Derek even had and he still hadn't managed to bribe him into giving him his Netflix password!   
Derek joined him pulling him from his mental rant as he ran circles with his thumb on the back of his neck. 

" They're here. " Stiles heart skipped a beat. " Relax, Stiles. It's going to be alright. " 

Stiles took out the cookies from the oven and barely had the time to grab the plate of cooled off muffins before a bunch of very loud people stormed into the loft asking questions and demanding explanations from Derek.   
They looked like... A hoard of puppies.   
" Derek! How dare you didn't tell us you have a boyfriend?! How dare you didn't tell Me you were tapping friggin' Red Riding's ass! Why have I been wasting my time putting up profiles for you on Internet? " A beautiful blonde was literally poking Derek in the chest with a perfectly manicured index finger and somehow she seemed more scary than Derek himself. 

" I told you not to, several times. And I am not tapping ass or whatever else you just said. " 

" Forget about that! Where is angry brunette? "   
They all turned to him and he awkwardly cleared his throat.   
" Uhm, hi. I'm Stiles."   
A tall, dark skinned and muscled guy looked at him sceptically. 

" You're telling me this guy was brave enough to throw a shoe at Derek? " 

" It where two shoes. " Isaac piped up from behind the blonde. 

" He looks... human. " 

Stiles furrowed his brows at them.   
" Uh... Thanks, I've been working on that look. " 

" Don't worry, angry brunette. We're just teasing you. " The blonde grinned mischievously at him and now it was clear why Derek told him not to stay too close to her. That was definitely Erica. 

" Dude. " The human sized equivalent of a puppy was looking at the plate in his hands and he could swear he saw him drool. " Are those homemade blueberry muffins? " 

" You want some? " The tan boy's slightly crooked smile nearly blinded him. " Derek also got pizza, it's in the kitchen. " 

" Oh my God! There's food?! " 

" What?! For real?!" 

" Derek actually got food? What the hell is going on? " 

" Don't be like that, Jacks. Embrace the good side of life for once. " 

" Shut up, McCall. " 

Once the puppy storm passed by there where only a couple muffins left.   
Stiles looked at Derek who still hadn't taken one and grinned mischievously at him.   
" Wanna grab my muffins. "   
Even though Derek gave him an unimpressed stare he still took a muffin.  
" I love him already. " Erica winked at Derek who rolled his eyes in a typical Derek fashion before nearly finishing it in one bite never taking his eyes off of Stiles. Stiles felt his cheeks heat up. 

” Don't openly flirt with my brother. " Cora walked into the loft and glared at them as she went to sit on the Sofa arms crossed. 

" Ugh, seriously? Why are we even here? " Lydia smacked the arm of guy whom Stiles had guessed by now was Jackson. 

" Don't mind them, I would love to watch while he grabs your muffins. "   
Stiles laughed, making Erica's grin widen. 

" Leave the human alone, Erica. " Boyd smiled as he pulled the blonde along holding a pizza box.   
The two went to sit on some cushions on the ground by the already fully occupied sofa.   
Stiles tried to figure out who was who. 

He already knew Cora who was glaring daggers at him, Lydia who was glaring daggers at Jackson for an other misplaced comment, Isaac, Boyd and Erica eating pizza from the two boxes they managed to get a hold of.   
He guessed the guy who had beamed at the mention of food and was now licking off his fingers next to a grossed out Jackson was Scott and the two girls who walked in last were Malia and Kira.   
Derek was about to close the door when Peter blocked it and walked in with a smile.   
" Hello, nephew. I heard there was a meeting. " 

Derek glared at his uncle with little reaction back from him.   
Peter walked past Stiles and grabbed one of the remaining muffins, then winked at him. Gross. 

" Little Red. " 

" Creepy Pete. "   
Stiles put down the tray of cookies on the dinner table and joined them after grabbing the last muffin for himself. 

Derek was sitting in the single sofa and motioned for him to join him. Stiles obliged and tried not to blush as he went to sit on the left arm of Derek's sofa. Kira smiled kindly at them.   
" So Derek, who's the new pack member? " 

" He is not pack. " Cora growled. 

" Well Darling, he already smells like pack whether you and I want it or not. " Peter picked at his muffin showing a little more fangs than needed. 

" Peter. " Derek warned. 

Stiles could see the confused looks of half of the pack members. So aside from Lydia, Isaac, Cora and Peter the others didn't know.   
Derek looked at his pack. 

" I am glad you all came. Some changes have happened recently that directly affect our Pack. " Derek saw their nervous looks. " Like you all must have heard by now, Stiles is currently staying at my place. Yes, it's true, he is Red Riding but I expect all of you to keep this between us. As everyone knows, the Argents put a bounty on him, meaning that right now it's not safe for him to be out in the open. " 

" You're joking right? No Way that's Red Riding. " Lydia hissed a warning at Jackson under her breath and Derek continued unbothered. 

" We met a little more than a week ago and I welcomed him under the Hale Pack's protection. Stiles helped us settle our most recent problem with the Fae and we now have a peace treaty with them. That means no one touches or gets near the Fae circles anymore. Stiles has also agreed to help us translate and complete the Bestiary. He is welcome for as long as he wants and I expect you all to make him feel that way. " 

" I think you're forgetting to mention that you're tapping that ass. " Stiles choked on his muffin and Derek lifted his eyes up trying to find the answer as to why he had to put up with his cousin.   
Kira made an apologising grimace to Stiles and Derek for her girlfriend but her amusement was showing in her eyes. 

" Nah, they smell more like frustration. I don't think they're there yet. " 

" Eew Erica! Seriously? ” Isaac frowned at her but got distracted by Peter clicking his claws as he scraped some invisible dust from underneath them. 

" No, little pups. What my dearest nephew is forgetting to mention is that Stiles is an Argent. "   
All eyes went from Peter to Derek then to Stiles. 

Lydia was the first to speak cutting off Derek's threatening growl before it even left his throat.   
" I understand he actually isn't. Care to elaborate? " 

Stiles gave Lydia a grateful smile and tried to breathe.   
" As Lydia said, I'm not an Argent. My father died when I was just a kid. Chris Argent was friends with him and decided to adopt me, but I was never treated like a family member, I... They... "   
Stiles' throat felt to small and constricted but before that turned into something bigger he felt how Derek's thumb stroked circles on his lower back, grounding him. Stiles took a breath and went on.   
" Well lets just say I wasn't the number one favourite person. Gerard, treated me like a dog and sometimes worse and the rest of them weren't much better. Chris and his wife Veronica acted like they didn’t see it and my adoptive sister Ally watched and never said a word. I got forcefully trained and dragged along on missions but I refused to go along with their lifestyle or their ideologies. I—“ 

" You actually expect us to believe that? " Cora's glare seemed to have deepened and if Derek hadn't been grounding him already he might have lost his cool.   
Derek wanted to defend him but Stiles motioned that he could handle it so he fell back.

" I'm not controlling my heartbeat. Peter would hear it anyways so why would I try? It is all true, I couldn't save myself from the Argents so I saved as many others as I could. I'm proud of myself for becoming Red Riding. I stood up against Gerard and his family and I did it regardless of the consequences it implied for me. I have nothing to apologise for. ” 

" Why didn't you just leave? " 

Isaac stood up with clenched fists.   
" Don't say that, Jackson! You of all people can't say that. Adopted children in the system don't have a say. It doesn't matter what you want. Your adoptive parents are the ones who have all the rights and make all the decisions! If Derek hadn't signed for me I might have ended up with someone just like... like... my dad."   
Isaac's voice was barely audible at the end and Stiles nearly missed that last sentence.   
Derek stood to press his hand to the back of Isaac's neck in a comforting gesture.   
" It's okay. I never would have let that happen. " 

The rest of the pack joined in gestures of comfort.   
Peter stood back still observing Stiles every move and what he saw was envy, clear as day. He could see Stiles never knew a Pack or people who cared for him from the way he looked at the exchange between the younger members of the Pack.   
He didn't want to believe him but he knew Stiles hadn't lied. Even if he hadn't listened to the human's heartbeat he could see plenty as Derek went to sit next to Stiles again. 

Peter observed how the tension in the kid's shoulders left when his nephew's fingers casually brushed past his in in a much more discreet gesture of comfort than he'd done for Isaac. His attention got called elsewhere when Lydia spoke.

" I think Stiles deserves a chance. " Lydia casually sipped from her glass of water holding the Pack's attention. " We've all heard about Red Riding from the ones he saved, we all know what kind of person he is from that already. I don't see how being adopted by the Argents nullifies any of what he did. Plus, it's pretty clear Derek isn't letting go of him. " 

Lydia took Derek's stoic face as a confirmation of her words and took another sip of her water resting her case.   
Stiles realised he might be having to hide a crush on Lydia.   
The Pack shared a look, some still seemed hesitant. Derek could see how Stiles deflated and stepped in. 

" I understand your concerns but having Stiles here has helped a lot, not just me but also the Pack. " Cora's expression softened just a little at her brother's honesty.   
Seeing glimpses of the Derek she used to know didn't leave her as unmoved as she wanted to. 

" So Stiles is the one who figured out that we had that Fae thing going on? " Derek nodded positively at Kira. 

" He was also the one who arranged the peace treaty and we now have allies we never even knew we could have. " 

" Smart guy. We need more smart people here. " Malia’s blunt stare landed on Jackson and Kira's laugh seemed to clear the tension in the room.

" You don't always pick your family, and family doesn't always define who you are. " Isaac had spoken softly but could be heard by all.   
Something in Stiles broke for the Shy curly haired beta. It made him want to shield him from the world and make sure no one could ever hurt him. The rest of Derek's pack seemed to agree with Isaac as several of them nodded. 

" Give this a chance and get to know him. We can start by being there on pack meetings and training sessions. I got told that I was to strict so I'll work on it. Let's all make it more enjoyable for us to be together especially on full moons. " 

Stiles refrained from smiling too widely at Derek when he heard he had been listening to him. Derek fondly shook his head at him.   
" Let's start with training this weekend, we all could use it. "

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo wazzup my G's !!!  
> I'm acting all tuff but I know I got some delay on this chapter ( ^__^ ' ) Sorry.  
> I rewrote this chapter so many times! I just needed this to be good. 
> 
> I'm seriously grateful to all of you for still reading my story and leaving kudos and comments.  
> It's always nice to hear from you guys :D  
> I'll see y'all next chapter !!! xoxoxoxo


	17. Run hunter run little hunter run run

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pack dynamics  
> Peter dramatics  
> I'm pretty sadistic  
> LoL

Derek’s pack was fun. Being around people his own age had been like a completely different world.

Lydia had come by the day right after pack meeting to help out with the Bestiary translation. Well at least that’s what she had said but she mostly spent her time studying the translations he’d already made and humming to herself while taking notes.   
She asked a couple questions too which eventually led to a discussion on the Windigo’s abilities to actually integrate society.

While Stiles was absolutely against Lydia did have strong counter points and examples which led them to a full on debating session which Derek hadn’t been able to escape from.  
Isaac, Boyd and Erica’s arrival was the only thing that saved Derek from having to play the judge between two equally scary people.

He never should have let those two get together.

Derek could barely follow their conversation and while he kept a straight face his eyes kept on darting back to Stiles agitated movements and how he seemed to beam with joy at Lydia’s intelligent retorts.   
Stiles was completely in his element.   
Did he bore him? He knew he wasn't a great conversationalist but he could make an effort for Stiles.  
The three beta’s sent marked him and went to see what all the fuss was about.

“ Ugh, are you guys actually doing nerd stuff? Boring! ”

“ It’s not boring, It’s informative. ”

“ That’s what I said, boring. ” Erica gave an exaggerated sight before dropping onto Stiles’ lap. “ Boyd has a card game with him. What do you say angry brunette? ”

Stiles grinned at her, refusing to give Erica the satisfaction of embarrassing him as she wiggled on his lap.

“ You don’t know what you’re starting. ”

“ You’re not starting anything else but training. ”

Stiles pouted at the Alpha and Derek’s eyes lingered on his lips.  
Soon the rest of the Pack arrived some joined in on the debate but unable to follow with Lydia and Stiles’ pace they quickly took it to themselves to go down to Derek’s basement to start with the training.

“ You wanna go see? ” Lydia nodded at the loft door through which the rest of the pack had left. “ Your attention keeps deriving back to the door. ”

Stiles smiled and rubbed the back of his head feeling like he’d just been caught with his hand in Derek’s secret stash of Twinkies.

“ I don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable. ”

“ Nonsense, let’s go. Those idiots need someone with a fresh look on their mess anyways. ”

If there was one thing Stiles had learned in these few hours with this strawberry blonde goddess, it was that no one refuses Lydia.  
Lydia was already standing writing pad and pen in her hand waiting for him to follow.  
Stiles shrugged and followed, grabbing his crutch and getting two large bottles of water and a couple of paper cups Derek had laying around from the previous pack meeting piled up on them before following his beautiful queen.

 

The basement was literally a gigantic room filled with testosterone and frustration.  
Part of the wolves were teamed up in pairs to train their fighting skills against each other and the other part were taking their chances at trying to beat their Alpha.

Although Derek tried to give them tips the Betas seemed to have no strategy whatsoever.  
Stiles cringed as he saw Isaac get thrown to the ground by Scott for the fifth time in a row.  
Lydia seemed used to it not even blinking at the display.

He felt bad for him.   
No one touches his little curly haired angle, not even Scott. He wanted the Beta to win at least once but much like the other Betas Isaac didn’t have a plan of attack and threw punches and clawed at random. Stiles noticed how the Beta kept repeating the same predictable pattern which made the task easy for Scott as he threw him down again.  
Isaac growled as he stood up motioning for a break.

Stiles waved at him showing the bottle of water. He didn’t need anything more to catch Isaacs interest as the Beta practically ran to get hydrated.  
Stiles poured him a glass and waited until he got closer to speak to him in a hushed voice.

“ Scott doesn’t pay attention to his foot work and leans to much on his right leg. If you switch it up and feign an attack on his left he’ll have no time to regain his balance when you sweep kick him. ”

Stiles pretended not to look at Isaac as the Beta blinked at him. Isaac gave a look at Lydia who pretended not to have heard a word either, then gave a little nod to himself and ran back to where Scott was encouraging Jackson, Erica and Boyd who were trying to get a hit at Derek, having missed the entire conspiracy.

Stiles observed how Isaac positioned himself facing Scott with renewed confidence.  
Scott was obviously underestimating his opponent and that would be his mistake and Isaac’s luck.

The two Betas circled around. Scott was waiting for Isaac to make the first move as he had the previous times but seeing how Isaac wasn’t going to he didn’t have a choice but to start himself. This was already faltering the tanned Beta’s stance. Scott finally made a move, Isaac dodged it by a hair but that didn’t matter. Isaac feigned a move twice confusing Scott and making him lose his balance, then as fast as he could the curly haired Beta then crouched down swiping hard at the other’s feet and effectively laying him down.

All the other fights had stopped to stare in astonishment at Scott laying on the ground with an equally stupefied look on his face.

“ It worked… I did it! ” Isaac turned to Stiles with a huge smile and Stiles clapped his hands and cheered with the other Betas while Isaac helped Scott back up.

“ Nice advice. ”

Stiles nearly hit Lydia when he startled and flailed.  
Peter’s smug little grin only grew when he saw both of the humans glare at him.

“ Can you not creep up on people like that ? ”

“ Careful little Red you’re getting bad at this. ”

“ Uhm, excuse me? Have you not seen my handy work out there? ”

“ Don’t worry, I’m not the only one who saw. ” Peter casually put on his jacket and took out his sunglasses.

Stiles looked around and noticed Derek’s heated gaze lingering on him. He felt a thrill run down his spine getting lost in Derek’s intensity.  
Peter’s smug smile didn’t lessen at all, on the contrary it just widened as he saw the way his nephew’s eyes stayed focused on them.

Oh boy, was that a sight for sore eyes. After years of Derek being immune to his teasings, here comes oblivious little human mate Stiles making it impossible for his stoic nephew to ignore him any longer. 

Peter saw it all, the doubt, the fire for Stiles and the anger directed at him plus so many other feelings Derek had been hiding from his Pack for so long.   
Yes, there he was, there was the Derek he remembered, the younger brother that had been taken away from him, leaving a broken shell behind, then one he had lost a first time after the fire and a second time after Laura.   
The one who dared to believe and dream, the one who did stupid things in the name of love, the one whom he had missed so much despite all the mistrust the anger and revenge plots they had been through.

Peter put his glasses on, a full on grin spreading his face and Stiles’ frown deepened.

“ Careful little Red, the Big Bad wolf’s got an eye on you. ”

“ How about trying not to be creepy? ”

“ Why would I? It’s all part of my charm. ”

Stiles made a face at him.

“ Shoo, shoo, creepy wolf be gone! ” Peter barked out a surprised laugh at his childish antic and Lydia just rolled her eyes at it.

“ Derek must be having a hand full with you. Anyways, I’ll be on my way. ”

“ Seriously?! You literally didn’t do anything but hover in the shadows! ”

“ Oh, I did something alright. I came to observe and I’ve seen plenty.” Stiles frowned again looking as Peter headed for the door.

“ Wearing sunglasses inside makes you look like a child abductor! ”

Peter’s laugh could be heard as he left.  
Lydia sighted at him and went back to doodling on her writing pad.

“ Idiots. ”

 

“ Pack Night! We’re totally calling this Pack Night! ”  
Several of the Betas grinned and agreed as Stiles flailed enthusiastically, partially revealing his set of cards.

Training had been so exhausting and frustrating to the Pack that they had piled up in Derek’s loft with defeated looks on their faces. Stiles just couldn’t let them leave like that, he wanted the Pack to feel better and had suggested Boyd take out that card game Erica had been talking about before.

They had laughed and cracked jokes while they played and sure enough the mood had eased and the Pack had warmed up to the idea of staying and ordering from Macy’s. Most of them had pulled faces when they saw him dunking his curly fries into his chocolate shake but Scott had joined him and Stiles would always love him for that declaring him his bro for life. Scott had beamed Derek had groaned not liking the idea one bit.

“ It sounds stupid. ”

“ Don’t mind Jackson. He’s a party pooper.”

“ I’m not! ”

“ Then eat this! ” Erica landed a perfect set of cards but Kira and Malia won the card game, they turned out to be great opponents. Isaac had lost in the first round of every game and Derek, Boyd and Lydia hadn’t bothered with it at all. 

All in all Stiles laughed a lot and it was refreshing to be around Derek and his pack. He knew he still had a long way to go with the pack and especially with Cora who hadn’t stayed for the game but if tonight was any indication, it wasn’t impossible to get accepted by them.

 

 

“ Dad! Dad, please! We have to run now! ”

Allison struggled as she tried to pull her immobile father up on his feet.  
Chris was still staring at his bloodied hands as the knife slipped from them.  
He’d had to. He didn’t have a choice. She’d gone completely mad. It was just a kid for God’s sake.

Said kid looked at him, exhaustion, stress and fear readable in his entire body. He had a look no one his age should ever have in their eyes. The look of someone who’s seen things they could never forget. He couldn't stand it anymore, he couldn't let her kill him. He was innocent.

“ Sir, we really have to go now. I can hear them coming. ”

Allison grabbed her father by the arm forcing him to look at her.

“ I only have one parent left. I’m not losing you too! We have to find Stiles. He’ll know how to help. He’s the only one who can help. ” Chris slowly nodded looking at his daughter and the werewolf kid he’d just saved from his own wife.

Allison was right. They had to find Stiles. Had to make sure they got to him before Gerard and Kate did. He owed it to him.  
So this is how Stiles must have felt.   
Twisted between fear and determination as he ran for his own life through the dense forest. Lost with no idea where he was going.

The adrenaline pumped through his body as he ran to the SUV following Allison and the other kid. He jumped into the car and screeched away eyes glued to the rearview mirror as if he could still see the life draining from his wife's body right behind them.

He had to stop this, with Stiles they could stop this.

*

*

*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Cue creepy child singing in a horror movie*
> 
> Run hunter run little hunter run run  
> As far as you can go.  
> Run hunter run little hunter run run  
> You know you have to go  
> The hunters will be hunted  
> The shadows follow so fast you go  
> Run little hunter run run run ....


	18. Christopher Argent's Guilt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Recently added characters:  
> \- Satomi Ito  
> \- Brett Talbot  
> \- Liam Dunbar  
> \- Masson Hewitt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A.N.: 
> 
> " As you can see, I am not dead. " 
> 
> \- T'challa son of T'Chaka, King of Wakanda, Black Panther, King of the Dead and Champion of Bast.

 

 

Chris walked out of his father’s office after an excruciatingly long meeting with several leaders of powerful Hunter clans that started the day before.  
His father… he really didn’t know if he could still see him as such. He barely recognised the man he’d just heard spouting nonsense and hate speeches about the eradication of all ‘abominations’.  
Didn’t he understand that they had a balance? A very fragile one too.

Sure he knew his father was the definition of a radical supernatural species opposant but he used to go by the code, follow its laws. He used to have an understanding for the balance between humans and the supernatural species, he used to have a direction, a purpose but now he was just a stray bullet, a mad man calling for a war between hunters and werewolves, not even just wolves but anything that was more or other than human had to die. 

Chris had tried to reason him after Stiles’ escape, he’d even thought that maybe the revelation that Stiles was in fact Red Riding and him slipping through his fingers one final time might have been what had triggered Gerard’s complete madness.

Of course he’d known Stiles was Red Riding.  
He’d known Stiles was different that very first time he’d seen this 14 year old kid go down in the dungeons to feed the prisoners his own meal. 

He’d known it was Stiles who had messed with Greenberg’s tracking plans that time when they lost an entire pack of werefoxes.  
He’d known right away who was Red Riding the first time he heard a dying werewolf face them without an ounce of fear in his voice that Red Riding would be the Argent’s downfall. 

No, Stiles wasn’t the trigger of Gerard’s madness but the result of it.

Chris had watched Stiles turn into a Beacon of hope and salvation for the Supernatural community in silence and secrecy.  
He never even told Stiles he knew about it because he understood why and how important it was that Stiles had become Red Riding, had himself tried to make a difference and turn Gerard for the better when he was younger.

He’d met with Emissaries and reasoned with Gerard to do so too, and for a while it had worked, for a while all was well. The Emissaries as the spokespersons for their werewolf packs and even Alphas like Talia Hale and Satomi Ito made an appearance to negotiate peace. It wasn’t easy to maintain especially with Kate always challenging both the peace treaty, the code and it's laws, but it was doable.  
Chris still could influence his father as his eldest son as well as his best hunter and convince him to keep their end of the deal with the pack Emissaries.

That was until Kate decided that she had enough of the peace treaty and wanted Gerard’s full attention and ear.

Chris still feels anger when he thinks about how easy it had been for her to corrupt enough men to go against the code and convinced them to burn down the house of the most powerful and influencing pack of California.  
He still feels like gagging when he thinks of how his own sister toyed with Talia Hale’s younger son, barely a teenager, then burned down his house, killing human and werewolf alike. 

The rage and distress he felt when Gerard praised his daughter for her service to the human race, killing all he had accomplished with just a dismissing wave of the hand towards him and the way his stomach turned when he saw Noah Stilinski’s face appear on tv as one of the victims of the fire.

Noah and Claudia would have been so proud of their son and so disappointed in him.  
Chris had failed as Stiles’ caretaker and he’d done so miserably.

 

Chris softly knocked on his daughter’s door before entering and closing the door behind him.  
Allison was sitting on her bed looking at him expectantly. He hated how the little bit of hope he could see in her eyes died down when she saw the expression on his face.

“ So it’s happening. Gerard is really going to war. ”

“ The Calaveras turned him down and so did majority of the clans but Gerard is leaving with those who are willing to follow him to slaughter the closest pack to us right now. Satomi Ito's pack is the most important and influencing pack in California at the moment and making a hit on them will be like going straight for the bigger threat. All the other packs are small and will be easy to scatter and get once Satomi is gone." 

Chris rubbed his face in frustration. 

" I tried but the other clans... they don’t plan to intervene. ”

Allison didn’t know if she should be screaming, crying or laughing at the completely fucked up situation they were in.

“ We can’t let this happen dad! ”

The door to Allison’s room slammed open making both father and daughter turn silent as they watched Veronica stare them down.

“ It is your grandfather's will and we will follow. ”

“ But mom- ”

“ Do not talk back, Allison! ”

Chris stayed silent watching the woman he once loved. 

“ Gerard’s cause is just. These abominations need to be eradicated for the safety of all. ”

“ Does that includes Stiles? ” Veronica’s once so lovely face turned stern.

“ Don’t ever pronounce that trator’s name again. ”

“ He’s my brother! ”

Chris already expected it when Veronica slapped their daughter. He clenched his teeth and fists keeping his anger in tow.

“ He was never your brother. ”

The crushing silence between the three of them spoke more than words ever could. Veronica stared her husband down. 

“ You should be proud of what your father is trying to achieve. You should be proud of what we are all working towards. ”

“ A genocide is nothing to be proud of.”

A glimpse of guilt softened his wife's face showing just a faint shadow of humanity she once had. Maybe there was still hope.

“ Mon Amour, you know it’s not right.” 

Allison watched how her dad tried in vain to move closer to her mom, she wasn’t going to change her mind. Her mom had been following Gerard for so long Allison couldn’t remember if she ever went against his wishes.

“ No, I’m leaving now with the others to join the hunt, for the safety of my family something both of you don’t seem to understand. I expect to see you there by my side Christopher.”

Victoria walked out leaving Chris and Allison behind.

 

The both of them stayed silent as they heard Veronica slam the front door and listened to the last of the hunters’ cars leave the mansion.  
Allison thought of Stiles and how he’d been right when he’d told her she was just as guilty as her grandfather for staying silent. She couldn't stay silent anymore, couldn't keep pretending to be that person.

“ I can’t let this happen.”

Chris looked at his daughter as she stood up and started to rummage through her weapon case.

“ Allison.”

Allison kept taking out her weapons while spoke angrily, barely controlling the tumult of emotions threatening to burst out of her. 

“ We have to do something dad! We have to warn them! ”

Chris grabbed her by the arm turning her towards him.

“ There is no time anymore Allison. Gerard has already left. I have been reaching out to my connections but on such short time there’s nothing even they’ll be able to do.”

“ If there’s anything I learned from Stiles, it’s that there’s always something you can do.”  
Now Chris was the one who got anger at his stubborn daughter.

“ Are you turning completely mad too?! ” 

“ We’ve stayed silent too long, Dad. Innocent people suffered and died while we did nothing. Stiles got hurt and we did nothing! I can't do this anymore. I’m going even if I have to go alone. ” 

The conviction and assurance in Allison’s eyes filled him with both fear and pride.  
Once again a child had showed more courage than he ever could.  
Chris sighted but already knew as he shook his head that he’d be with her till the end.

“ Pack your stuff. Leave all that isn’t necessary, we're not coming back here. ” 

 

It took Allison less than 10 minutes to get her weapons and fill her backpack with a set of spare clothes.  
She remembered how she’d done the exact same thing for Stiles as she pulled out a plank from her floor board and fished out his laptop as well as a small envelope of cash and the fake ID she used to use when she was still too young to get into clubs.

Seeing Stiles run had at least prepared her for the worst. She pushed it all in her backpack and opened her bedroom window to find her father already waiting for her.  
Allison climbed down her window and threw her backpack down for her dad to catch before jumping herself.  
Chris waited for Allison to land perfectly on her feet before the both made their way to his SUV.

Chris drove like a mad man trying to reach the Ito pack before Gerard’s men.  
He still remembered Satomi from the negotiations back in the day when he’d managed to get a sit down between the most influencing packs in California. 

She hadn’t trusted him and neither had the others but they all trusted Talia Hale and she had decided to give his cause a chance.  
It had costed her her life and that of her entire pack, leaving behind tree orphaned children as the only survivors of his naïve ambition.

His family had the Hale pack's blood on their hands and therefore he was guilty too.  
He doubted Satomi would ever give him a chance but he had to try.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!  
> I am so friggin happy I finally managed to write this chapter!  
> But first of all, I am so friggin sorry it had to take so long! Like WTF ! At first it was just me enjoying vacay and then I got hit big time by that Blanc page situation for like more than a month! It was not fun at all. I do not recommend it.  
> At least I now have some kind of story line so I shouldn't have as much trouble as I did writing chapters anymore but spoiler alert: this story has gone to a much bigger extend I ever thought it would and I was not at all ready for all the development ideas I'm still having for this story. Ho-Ly-Shit.
> 
> And last but not least thank you to all of you who are still with me and reading this story and encouraging me as well to keep writing.  
> Y'all are the real MVP! I fucking love you guys !


	19. One brother is human, the other is a wolf.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Glad to be here with you again on the Red Riding, at your service shooow! *cue applause*  
> Alright alright alright so today we meet two brothers who are fairly unusual. One's a wolf and one's a human. "  
> *Host turn's to the two guests*
> 
> " Alright kids how is it to be part of the inner circle? "
> 
> " We're not kids, we're both 19! "  
> " Wait, I'm in the inner circle? "
> 
> " Well let's just say you two brothers are between Hunters and Werewolves and both are out for blood! " 
> 
> " Intense. "  
> " Wha-? The hell is going on?! "
> 
> " That's all for now! Cuuuue Camera 1! "

“ Screw their stupid sun and their stupid moon and their stupid stars! I’ve had it! ” 

Chris and Allison watched from the shadows as a wolfed out boy roared and trashed at random trees while another, with dark skin and apparently eternal patience, remained calm sitting on a fallen tree trunk, probably the result of the young wolf’s poorly controlled anger. They looked seventeen maybe nineteen?

“ It’s the sun, the moon and the truth, bro. ” .

“No one cares, Mason! ” The werewolf clawed at an other tree for good mesure before turning around to his friend. Even as he was wolfed out it was obvious he was making faces at him. ” Oh, no Liam, you have to find a pack! Oh, no Liam, you’re traumatised! Oh, no Liam, meh meh meh! Thanks, Mason! ” 

Both Chris and Allison frowned at the wolf’s antics. Obviously this one had been turned recently, otherwise he’d have sensed their presence, heard their heartbeats or even just smelled them, but this one was so absorbed in his trashing at trees and ranting at the other that he didn’t even notice when they moved closer to them.

“ Stop acting like a kid and go back. She’s a buddhist Alpha, for God’s sake. Who better than her to help you with your anger issues? ” 

“ I don’t need a Pack or an Alpha! I can do this by myself. ”

Chris admired that Mason kid who stayed calm even faced by an angry wolfed out beta. 

This one was probably human, if he’d been a werewolf with that selfcontrol it would mean he’d either be a born werewolf or have been turned long enough to develop his senses, so he’d have felt their presence unlike the other. 

“ You tried that before, remember? I lost you for an entire friggin week, Liam! You got caught and nearly died. No one on campus believed me when I said you got kidnapped! They all thought you dropped out because of Hayden and Mom and Dad don’t even know you went missing! ” 

“ Mom and Dad can never know. And that was different! I’d just got bit days before they caught me. ”

“ And now you have been turned for nearly a month and you still don’t have enough control to not growl at teachers or respond to Alpha authority, nor do you have said Alpha’s protection because you refuse to join her pack. ”

“ How is a pack going to help!? Look at me, I’m a monster! I nearly hurt Hayden and I tried to hurt you! ” 

“ You’re not a monster! Okay, maybe Hayden left, but I’m your brother and I’ll never leave no matter how hard you try. I got you, man. ” Chris watched how the human kid pulled the wolf into a firm hug without an ounce of fear in his smile and decided to move now. He pointed his gun at the human kid despising himself for it but he knew the wolf would listen to him fearing for his brother’s life. He made enough noise for them to notice while Allison moved to his opposite side.

The two boys got startled but their reaction was immediate. The human held his hands up while the werewolf tried to make a move to stand in front of him but was forced to abort when Allison directed her crossbow at him. 

“ Listen, we don’t want to hurt you but we will if you don’t give us a choice. Now shift back, it’s my daughter your growling at. ”

The kid’s features turned back to human and Allison recognised him. 

“ You… I remember you. Stiles’ saved you the night of the explosion. ” 

“ What’s a Sti-...oh. ” He seemed to recognize Allison as his face paled. . 

“ Wait, she was with that Red Riding guy? ”

“ Yeah, but they’re both Argents. ” Chris sighted in frustration when the werewolf kid also lifted his hands, fear readable on his face.  

“ Like I said we don’t have time. The Alpha you were talking about, her name is Satomi Ito, right? ” Both boys nodded with their hands still held in the air. “ Take us to her. ”

  
  


Satomi Ito stood at her front porch already waiting for them, backed by two of her Beta’s and Chris already knew a dozen had been following them through the woods. 

“ Christopher Argent. ”

“ Alpha Ito.” The two of them looked at each other taking in the change from over the years. While Chris had aged Satomi still looked the same, yet her entire demeanour was different. She looked composed, at peace even, while years ago she’d been the personification of a blazing fire, of course Chris could still feel the power and danger emanating from her even standing feets away from her but now her smile showed control and wisdom. Didn’t that Mason kid say she was a Buddhist Alpha? That was new.

“ You’re not here to harm us, Christopher. Lower your weapons. ”

Chris did as she told and motionned for Allison to do the same.  As soon as they did both boys stepped as far away from them as they could. 

“ We came to warn you. Your entire pack is in danger. Gerard is on his way here as we speak with double your numbers. ”

“ Yes, we know. I felt him passing our borders but why would you let us know? ” 

“ You know I never agreed with him. I need you to trust me.” 

Satomi’s pack came out of the forest line, surrounding them.

Satomi observed both hunters standing before her. 

Aside from time showing on his features, Chris hadn’t changed to much. He still had hope in his eyes. The only Argent hunter she’d known who had believed in change and apparently still did as she could read desperation in his eyes. He looked more mature too, but that is what was to happen upon becoming a parent. 

Satomi looked at her pack before looking at the two hunters again. 

“ Alpha Hale trusted you and she died. ”

“ I know that! I couldn’t do anything for the Hale pack but I can for your pack. I owe it to Talia Hale and her entire family. ”

Satomi looked at the desperate man. 

“ Alpha Ito, with all due respect we don’t have any time left anymore. Gerard is not here to speak. We all need to leave, now. ” Satomi looked at the young woman standing next to her father. Strong willed this one.

“  Tell me young lady, why are you here? ”

Allison was startled by the Alpha’s question but straightened her back and answered.

“ I’m here to warn you. ”

“ No, that’s not it. ” The woman stepped closer to her and Allison resisted the urge to step back feeling the intensity of her crimson eyes on her. 

“ You smell of guilt. Why is that? ”

“ I… I can no longer stay silent. My grandfather, my aunt, my mom.” Allison shook her head. “ My entire clan has been murdering innocents and I did nothing. Our code and laws are being violated and we did nothing. I can never wash that blood of my hands but I can to try to prevent more from spilling. ”

Satomi heard no stutter in her heartbeat. Maybe they’d have a chance if like Red Riding this girl was part of a new era for all of them. She didn’t have time to meditate to see the path she’d open, Gerard and his men were already deep in her territory.

Satomi turned to her pack.

“ Like you all know the Argents are already on our territory, hunters are coming for us and there is no time to run. Today we have no choice but to give way to our true nature but do not let anger consume you, do not lose yourself to the animal, stay in control. The sun, the moon, the truth. ”

Chris noticed how all of Satomi’s pack recited the mantrah, letting their eyes shift to their wolfs colour. Not a single one of them possessed blue eyes, they were all innocent. 

“ Liam, Mason, go with Christopher Argent and his daughter. ” 

“ Alpha Ito-” Satomi stopped Chris with just a movement of her hand. 

“ There is little chance we’ll make it out of here alive. These two have nothing to do with all this. ”

“ We came to fight by your side. ” 

“ You know you will need more than me to stop your father. You need all of the packs and they won’t trust you, but they will trust Alpha Hale. ” 

“ Talia Hale is dead. ”

“ Her son is the new Alpha of Beacon Hills. If you want other packs to fight with you, you’ll need him. ” 

“Derek Hale? ” Chris shook his head. “ He’ll never trust me.” 

“ Well, you’re friends with Red Riding, so maybe if you get him to help…? ”

Both Chris and Allison looked at Mason who instinctively took a step back. 

“ Stiles disappeared weeks ago, no one has seen him since. ”

“ I think I might be able to reach him. ” Chris turned to frown at his daughter. “ I’ll explain later, we have to go. Now. ”

“ Brett, go with them. ”

 

The group of five ran through the forest to get to the SUV urged by the sounds of the fight that had started behind them. 

Chris didn’t like the lack of life surrounding them. Their was no bird or even insect to be heard, only the muffled sound of their running on the forest floor.

He refused to give in to any feeling of relief even when the shiny black tints of his SUV got visible in the distance.  

Chris didn't trust it. 

He lifted his hand motioning for the group to stand still, but before they even could come to a halt the metallic sound of a bear trap melted together with the breaking of bones.

In the end Chris knew that whatever he’d tried he couldn’t have avoided the outcome of this night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn't a very long chapter but I'm hoping to update by the end of the week. 
> 
> You guys, I'm gonna be honest reading your comments and getting your kudo notifications after horrible soulsucking days at my part time job just gives me life. *swiping a tear away* Always the real O.G.'s.


	20. Beloved Wife and mother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello hello hello my loves !  
> Just gotta let you know there is a character death in this chapter!  
> Also fighting and blood.

Liam’s agonising howl reverberated through the trees. 

“ Liam!” Both Brett and Mason tried to help free the injured wolf but the silver trap was laced with metal it was impossible for Brett to get rid of it without hurting himself too.  
The howl had given away their position and Chris could already hear the voices of Gerards men closing up on them. They barely had any time. 

Chris instructed Allison and Mason so they could free Liam, while Brett held him down and muffled his pained cries.  
He remained calm observing the situation they were in as he removed the trap as fast and carefully as possible..

They wouldn’t make it.

Liam’s leg would be much slower to heal due to the silver even as a new wolf. Stringing Liam along would get them all caught. 

This was a mess. 

The kid looked pale and ready to pass out, Mason was panicking threatening his brother to not fall asleep on them, Satomi’s Beta, Brett, tried to syphon Liam’s pain without much success and Allison had ripped her jacket off to stop the bleeding. 

Chris and Liam’s eyes met and all Chris could think was that this shouldn’t be happening. He’s a kid, he’s just a kid.  
Just a second more of staring into fear filled blue and Chris’ decision was made.

“ Brett, take Mason and run. ” 

“ I’m not going anywhere without my brother! ”

“ Kid, there’s no time for this. You want to save your brother? Then you have to trust me and run.”

It was obvious Mason had no intention on listening to the older hunter but Brett needed only one look around to understand the impossible situation they were about to be in. Hunters were closing up on them, he could already see them running towards them through the trees. 

“ Mason we have to go. ”

The look of utter despair and betrayal in the kid’s eyes hurt Brett more than anything. He was giving into it when a bullet flew right past them, missing Masson by mere inches.  
Chris’ instinctual reaction had found him shielding Liam with his body as he screamed to both Allison and the two boys to runaway.

“ No! I can’t lose him again! Liam! ”

“ Go! Now! ” Chris looked at Brett who nodded and grabbed the struggling human forcing him to run with him. 

Mason wasn’t strong enough to fight against Brett’s grip, all he could do was run along to try and not fall face first into the dirt of the forest floor. 

Allison ran but didn’t follow them, instead she climbed up the nearest tree with enough leaves to cover her, readying her bow and arrows for the inevitable. 

Chris held back his voice when a bullet cut through the flesh of his shoulder but still didn’t stop covering the terrified young werewolf. 

“ Stop! Cease fire at once! ”

The firing ceased leaving place to a deafening silence.  
Chris didn’t know if the thundering he heard was from his own heart beat or the one of the pale young wolf looking at him with so much dissbelief that it even seemed he forgot his leg had been thorn by silver teeth. 

He would have laughed at his expression had he not been sure to have heard his own wife's voice command for a cease of fire. 

From the corner of his eyes Chris followed the handful of hunters approaching with their guns directed at them until he could have a full view of her. 

 

Victoria Argent was a wife and a mother but above all Victoria Argent was a Hunter who believed in her cause and the eradication of all evil.  
She’d hunted numerous of those beasts, had made a name for herself in her clan and earned the respect of her step family by being ruthless and unforgiving fighting along in their quest to cleanse the world of impurities like wendigos, vampires and many others but mainly werewolves.  
Those vicious uncontrolled beasts ready to tear down innocent humans as soon as the full moon called. 

She was proud to be part of the Argent clan, proud to fight alongside the Argent men and women and having successfully asserted herself as team leader.  
She was the wife of Gerard Argent’s son, the future head of the clan and the mother to the woman who would be head of the clan after him. 

She knew all that, understood the importance she, her husband and her daughter played in all that.  
What she didn’t understand was what the hell said husband was doing protecting one of those abominations. The next to be head of the clan, laying in dirt, lowering himself to the ground to protect something that was to be destroyed. 

She observed how her husband raised and yelled at them to stay where they were and not come any closer like an out of body experience.  
How could he? How could he throw away his pride like that? How could he betray them all? How could he have chosen them over his family, over her. 

Soon an indescribable anger filled Victoria to the point where she could feel nothing. 

Chris watched on as he saw how his wife’s expression turned emotionless and foreign… she looked like a stranger and stared at him like he was one too.  
He knew what that meant. 

So did Allison. And when she saw her mom slowly raise her hand, signaling to the five hunters who followed her to ready their guns, she released her arrows, feeling as if she was shooting herself with every meticulous hit she made.  
She knew those people, had known them for years. Those same people she considered family had aimed their guns at her dad, ready to shoot at her mom’s signal.  
Why wasn’t it more of a surprise to her that her mom would give the signal.  
Allison watched her and felt her blood run cold and the hair in the back of her neck stand up when her mother’s gaze lifted up to her. That wasn’t her mom, she looked nothing like her. 

“ So you betray me too. ”

“ Mon Amour, please. You know this is wrong. ”

“ Do not call me that, traitor. ” Victoria hadn’t even needed to raise her voice for it to have the impact it had on Chris. “ Either you kill that abomination hiding behind you or I will. ”

“ You know I can’t let that happen. ”

“ Then you choose. ” Victoria raised her gun in Allison’s direction shocking both her husband, daughter and herself. 

“ Victoria, what are you doing!? It’s our daughter you are aiming at! ”

Victoria didn’t lower her gun, even as a single tear left her eye outing the tumult of emotions she hid behind her mask of steel.  
“ It’s Allison or that filthy werewolf. ”  
Chris turned to Liam seeing the terror painted on the young one’s face before turning back to Victoria.  
“ You are not shooting our daughter. ”

Liam wasn’t ready to die. He was only 19! He was supposed to be living his life, going to college, getting stressed over finals and going to ridiculous frat parties with Mason. They were supposed to graduate together and then take a year to travel and see so much stuff.  
He was going to get out of this alive!

Liam’s eyes fell on the silver bear trap still laying next to him. To be honest he didn’t put much thought into it. He just bit through the pain of both his leg and the burning in his hand when he grabbed the silver teeth, moved from behind Chris and flung it at the short haired huntress. 

Victoria barely had the time to react when she saw the movement, she stepped back and tried to avoid the bear trap that got joistled at her, automatically pressing to shoot before getting her gun knocked away from her hands.  
Allison lost her balance trying to get out of the way and fell from the tree, nearly knocking herself out. 

While Chris got distracted by Allison Victoria grabbed her chance to pull out her knife and head straight for the young werewolf.  
Victoria slashed at the helpless kid who tried to protect himself holding up his arms. 

Chris had to physically push her off but even then, she didn’t resign. Instead she kept slashing with anger, trying to strike on lethal points. All Chris could do was opt for defence hoping she would eventually tire but he knew her too well his only option was to get rid of her weapons. So he waited for an opening getting slashed at and hit a few times. Victoria finaly went for a fly kick which he had to let happen before he could grab her leg and bring her out of balance. Instead of falling Victoria used him as leverage to administer a second kick knocking the air out of his lungs and getting him down. 

When Chris was on the ground she grabbed her chance and went in for the kill. Chris only managed to survive that by grabbing both her hands. Even then she had much more leverage. She put her entire weight into it pushing the knife to his ribcage. Chris didn’t have another option but to forcefully turn the knife back to her. 

Victoria Impaled herself on the knife.

Chris couldn’ take away his eyes from her face. Gone was the anger, not even a trace of pain visible on her face.  
Chris moved her to his arms trying to make it the least painful possible. 

A mere drip of blood escaped her lips as she softly smiled up at him. For the first time in years her smile was genuine, as if now that her time was coming to an end she was finaly free to rid herself from all the layers she’d put around herself, showing the woman he’d known back when he was in his twenties. 

Allison saw how the knife disappeared into her mother’s chest. She saw how her father wept cradling her into his arms losing his voice over I’m sorry’s and I love you so much’s and forgive me’s and felt how her own tears welled up in her eyes and soon drenched her cheeks. There was nothing else to be heard aside from her father’s soft whispers. They stayed silent for what seemed like an entire eternity pushed into just 5 minutes. 

The walky talky of one of the hunters started making noise. Allison recognised her aunt Kate’s voice asking for the team’s position. They needed to move now.  
Allison was the one who finally stood up while Chris made no motion to get away from his wife. They needed someone to pull them together, because the other hunters were already looking for her mother’s fallen team and they couldn’t be there when they’d find them. 

Allison first approached Liam who was looking at her like he didn’t know if he should try to make a run for it or just accept whatever she’d do to him. She didn’t know how she managed to smile at him and usher reassuring words to gain his trust, although warry, and got him to take her hand when she offered it to him. 

She let him lean on her to walk and approached her dad doing her best not to look at her mom’s body bleeding out in his arms.  
The night was falling and they had to get out of there.  
So she forced her dad to get back to them and get in the car.  
She got the Werewolf kid to sit in the back without complains and directed her dad far from the horror they’d just partaken in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh  
> Sorry to leave you guys like this. (T__ T )


	21. The First Crack in the Glass

“ So I’m all good this time right? I can start training with the Pack again? ”  
Stiles sat on the cold metal table at Deaton’s office, a hopeful look directed at Derek. 

“ The only reason you’re here is because you did too much training.”

“ Aww c’mon Grumpy-Chunks! You know I can’t resist helping the pups! ”  
Derek rolled his eyes failing to hide the fondness in them. 

Obviously he knew how much Stiles loved to train with the Pack, he loved when he did too. The impact Stiles had on them was undeniable.

Stiles had managed to give more direction to the entire Pack, him included, than he’d ever managed alone.  
Even though his pride as an Alpha had been a little hurt he couldn’t pretend they didn’t need the help. Stiles was the strategist he could never be.  
He’d managed to pinpoint all of their weaknesses and strengths making them stronger and much more confident than they’d ever been before. 

At first Derek hadn’t been too keen on letting Stiles help out with training, any and all doubts had vanished when he’d seen the betas finally work together as a team rather than a group of wolves randomly thrown together.  
Not following the younger man’s advice would have been a stupid mistake, so he took them into account, discussed strategies and shared those idea’s with the Beta’s, letting Stiles explain the details when needed and even take the lead sometimes. 

At first Stiles sat on the side lines with snacks and drinks he’d prepared for the Pack and gave them advice whenever they needed to, even held a secret progressbook with Lydia that they planned on showing the Betas at the end of the month.  
None of them had ever been looking forward to training sessions before, now they rushed to the basement instead of the usual dragging of feet. 

But when he’d started walking without the aid of crutches he’d trained and spared with them.  
The look of pride that showed on Stiles’ face whenever the Betas or Derek did great was one he wanted to be rewarded with every day.  
Without even knowing it Stiles was acting like the Alpha’s mate and taking his place in the Pack as such.  
Not only was the Pack more balanced than they’d ever been before but their bonds seemed to be stronger too. It had brought them all together especially Stiles and him. Even Cora seemed to be slowly warming up to him… at least that’s what he wanted to believe.

Stiles saw the way Derek slightly ducked his head and smiled that tiny special smile of his that Derek reserved only for him. He held onto deaton’s cold metal table trying to stop himself from swooning away. 

The daytime veterinarian cleared his throat getting their attention back to him, his signature all knowing glint going between the two distracted men.

“ You should be fine, but I once again recommend to go gradually.”  
Stiles fist bumped the air and jumped off the table.  
Derek shook his head fondly as he opened the door to the front of the clinic to let Stiles through. 

Deaton observed how the two interacted with each other again. How their relationship had changed in less than two months had surprised him. He had not expected that outcome and that might make his upcoming conversation with Derek a little more complicated. 

“ Derek, before you go I need a word with you. ” The two exchanged a glance. 

Derek seemed unsure as to whether he should leave Stiles alone and Deaton’s suspicions were confirmed when he saw the discrete reassuring nod Stiles gave him allowing Derek to stay behind. 

Derek turned to the vet after closing the door behind Stiles.  
He didn’t like the look on Deaton’s face one bit. 

Deaton wondered for a second who this man standing before him was.  
The Derek he’d been used to for years now barely ever showed anything else but anger and stoic behaviour, but this Derek seemed relaxed and had even… smiled.

Deaton hadn’t seen him like that before not even the last time he’d passed by the Hale house, when Talia Hale was still Alpha of Beacon Hills and all prospered. He hated to be the one to test Derek’s new found stability. 

“ Something has happened up north with the Ito Pack. I haven’t been able to reach Alpha Satomi. My sources told me the Argents have ambushed them.” The Vet tried to ignore the way Derek’s face fell. “ Word is spreading fast about an all out war between the Argents and the Werewolves. ”  
Deaton observed how Derek’s shoulders had tensed. Every muscle in the Alpha’s body seemed to be tense.  
Still he had to let the man know. “ Derek, if the Argents are wiping out packs, Stiles might no longer safe her—”

“ He’s safe with Me. ” 

Deaton was expecting Derek’s sharp reaction. After all, he’d just told the Alpha he was unable to keep his own mate safe. 

Deaton stayed silent for a couple seconds giving Derek the time to calm down but the ring of red surrounding his pupils didn’t fade.  
He carefully picked his next words needing Derek to understand in how much trouble both Stiles and the Hale Pack were. 

“ From what I’ve heard a lot of people, Hunters and Shifters alike believe Red Riding is the answer to stop the war. Some like Deucalion who has been terrorising several packs looking for him, seem to be willing to do whatever it takes to get to him. People will come for him, they’ll come for his new Pack and they’ll come for his new found Alpha mate. ” 

 

 

Stiles had been waiting in Derek’s Camaro switching between radio stations until he finally recognised a song he liked and sat back, humming along.  
As usual he let his hands slide over the leather of the sexiness that was the smooth dark ride, loving the feel of it.  
He knew he’d made Derek swerve the first time he’d done that with much more moaning and mumbled praises than necessary. The Alpha had cursed under his breath as he forced his eyes back on the road. That had been the beginning of Stiles’ fun list: ‘Discoveries of what turns Derek on’. 

These past weeks Stiles had done nothing but torment the man trying to break his control so he'd finally give into it and respond or make a move because quite frankly since that last slip up with Peter and the paper knife Derek hadn’t even tried to put his hands on the perfectly fine specimen that Stiles was. Real cool for Derek that he was back in control, not so cool for Stiles and his building up sexual frustrations. 

Derek needed to get his head out of his ass and sex him up ASAP. The worst part was that he knew damn well Derek wanted to tap that, he just couldn’t understand why he didn’t when they had both been so very eager to since day one. At this rate if he let the Alpha have it his way he’d still be a virgin at age 75. So, yes, Stiles was determined to woo the man in all the ways possible. He went on his merry way, pushing him to his limits throwing in random pick up lines and flirting relentlessly and wasn’t above provocations, hence the list. 

He’d discovered that Derek’s ears were very, and he means Very, sensitive and had been flicking, stroking and randomly touching them at every given occasion, even managed to get his teeth and tongue involved that one time Derek’s guard had been down. 

The Alpha had made the sweetest surprised noise, which to this day Stiles still wasn’t able to describe otherwise than a whine.  
And when the Derek’s face had flushed red Stiles couldn’t stop himself from grinning like an idiot, obviously proud of himself for having taken him off guard.  
Needless to say he’d been scowled at throughout the entire day. 

Derek also seemed to like, as in reaaaally like Stiles’ fingers.  
Maybe it was because they were long, how would he know? He’d never had any particular thoughts about them but Derek seemed to have some and if his mouth was involved somewhere in there that was nothing but a plus.  
Ha! He knew his oral fixation would come in handy one day. 

He’d been licking salt off his fingers one day when the Pack had gone to Macy’s after their training.  
Jackson had made sure he’d know how gross that was to which he’d retaliated by sucking off the salt on each of his fingers one by one.  
The pack was divided between grossed out and amused but he only noticed how much it affected Derek when several of them were scrunching their nose and Scott started coughing in his drink as he sat besides the tensing Alpha.  
Derek’s only response had been to mumble “ Shut up, Scott.” into his burger.  
Since then he made sure to find each and every excuse to lick his fingers or have something in his mouth when Derek was near. 

Stiles also knew there was something about him wearing Derek’s already worn clothes that had the man tracking his every movement. The way his nose flared and how his eyebrows seemed to communicate how exactly he wanted to be the one to take these clothes off was an indication that Stiles was getting pretty good at getting under the broody man’s skin. 

The looks Derek gave him were of the most endearing kind.  
It was as if they conveyed promises of heat and uncontrolled wilderness sending jolts of electric thrills up his spine that made the hair on his arms raise.

Even though his little game of cat and mouse was highly entertaining it wasn’t what Stiles was daydreaming about as he waited in Derek’s Camaro. 

They had grown closer than he’d ever have imagined he could be with someone.  
Sometimes it even scared him how the Alpha had managed to find a way into his heart so fast.  
Stiles didn’t always know how to respond to the random bursts of joy he felt from doing the most mundane and simple things with Derek like cooking or cleaning the loft or going shopping for food or arguing over whether or not they were going to watch the Dark Knight Rises for the fifth time that week. 

In those instants Derek’s hand often found the back of his neck, scraping blunt human nails there while Stiles melted besides him. It meant so much more to Stiles than just sent marking. It was as if Derek was making sure that Stiles was there. It grounded him.  
For the first time in years someone cared about him, cared about his existence, cared about how he felt, about who he was. 

They knew each other's way of moving and functioned accordingly, nearly in unison sometimes. Erica had been the one to point that out the one time Boyd and her passed by the loft after a patrol and had caught them cooking together.  
“ You guys are disgustingly cute moving in sync like that. ”

Stiles had sputtered and blushed furiously as if he was a teenager again and had been caught sneaking out to meet Derek in secret. 

“ Leave him alone, Erica. ”

“Awww but babe, look at him! Isn’t he cute when he blushes? ” 

“Yeah, and I’ve also seen him throw knives at moving targets without ever missing so why don’t you let this royal pain in the ass breath a little. ”

Stiles indignant “ Hey! ” got completely ignored as Derek raised his brows in question at his Betas showing the steaks he was about to put in his frying pan. 

Boyd only shook his head probably already having plans with Erica.  
“ Hmmm… always thought Stiles would be the one with pain in his ass. ”

Derek's heavy eyebrows dropped low as he pointed his frying pan towards the heavy loft door. At least Boyd had the decency to try and hide his grin as he led his girlfriend out the loft. 

Still, Erica had been right, they did move together.  
Even more so since they recently started training together just the two of them because Stiles had pushed himself too hard with the Pack and missed a step injuring his still healing ankle.  
Stiles wasn’t even that hurt but Derek still carried him all the way to the camaro and brought him to Deatons’ like a damsel in distress. Both Stiles and the pups had relentlessly teased him about it.  
Derek stressing out over him like that and needing to know for sure that Stiles was okay had only made the human fall for him even more. Stiles had never trusted anyone the way he trusted Derek.

 

He was still smiling to himself and feeling ridiculous for being this happy, humming along to The Sugar Hill Gang when Derek walked out of the clinic. He could see right away something was wrong.  
Derek’s shoulders were tense and his face was blank.  
Stiles wanted to ask but for once decided against, having learned that sometimes Derek just needed time to put his thoughts together.  
So Stiles didn’t pester him like he usually would and patiently waited for him to tell him. 

Derek would tell him.

... He would right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sugar, spice and everything nice.  
> These were the ingredients chosen  
> To create the perfect little tale  
> But Professor Utonium accidentally  
> Added an extra ingredient to the concoction--  
> Worthless uncoordinated time management! 
> 
> Thus, this chapter came way later than it was supposed to  
> Using this ultra slow computer.
> 
> Fanfics, Fluff, and Angst  
> I've dedicated my life to fighting crime  
> And giving us all much deserved Sterek


	22. Lies of Omission

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY NEW YEAR BITCHEZZZZ!!!  
> I'll try and update soon!

Derek was dying.  
He was dying in agony and no one was going to save him.  
Not even his treacherous pack. Those heartless bastards! 

Boyd and Erica had abandoned him probably to make out God knows where, not caring for his soundless plea. Kira and Malia had disappeared right as they got in town, as per usual Isaac had followed Scott into which ever video game store was around and Cora had bared her teeth at the mention of shopping… at least she was waiting for them at the loft to help out with the unpacking.  
Peter had been way to keen on coming along only to change his mind and disappear on him in his moment of need, which left him here, slowly rotting away on a sofa that was as uncomfortable as it was too expensive for it’s looks with the company of an equally agonizing Jackson. 

Derek had never thought he would ever have sympathy for Jackson but here they were, both unable to escape the clutches of the most terrifying woman he had ever met. 

At least Stiles got to suffer too.  
The beautiful asshole with his great ideas and enchanting smile was the only reason they were here in the first place! Now they were both losing their will to live with every passing minute, stuck in a nightmare he enticed by declaring the loft could use some change for it to be a welcoming home, while Lydia was in earshot. 

Of course Derek had only had eyes for his mate and his efforts to make their den more appealing and had nodded along with Stiles’ ideas only realising it was too late to save himself from this exact situation when the banshee started looking up furniture stores and making plans.

“ Derek, stop moping! You’re scaring the store employees away. ”

Derek’s glare found Lydia who didn’t even bother looking up from the colour palettes she’d been contemplating for about an hour now.  
He was tempted to growl, but it was still Lydia and no one in their right mind would put themselves in that kind of danger. 

 

Stiles for his part had found the 4 hours of shopping for new furniture for the loft awkward and cringing at best.  
He’d just wanted to get Derek to get out a little.  
Maybe a change of scenery would do something, maybe Derek would just relax a bit if they were all out together doing something that wasn’t training.  
The man had been closed off and tense since his secret talk with Deaton and that was already three days ago! All communication between them had turned void, leaving Stiles craving for something he didn’t even knew he had. 

He wanted to talk to him and he wanted to get close to him without the other flinching and for fuck’s sake he wanted Derek to touch him and sent mark him like he did before their last visit to Deaton’s.  
Hell, he didn’t even care if Derek wanted to have an entire conversation on the history of circumcision! He could entertain.  
He wrote an entire research on it simply to annoy his homeschool teacher at age 16 and everything was still fresh in his mind. 

But no matter what he did Derek didn't open up and so he figured space would be the right thing even if it was hard on him.  
Stiles had to stop himself from reaching out to touch Derek so many times these past days that he lost count. Even when he concentrated on what Lydia was saying and tried to help out with choosing the furniture and picking between endless colors that all looked the same, he still caught himself automatically edging closer to Derek. And the closer he was to him the more the Alpha tensed up.  
This entire situation was starting to get to him.  
It was a horrible game of selfcontrol for him but at least when the others were here he could distract himself by talking with them but one by one they wandered off in different stores. Even Scott had sheepishly backed out after yet another awkward exchange between them, automatically followed by Isaac. 

Stiles shifted uneasily and looked at Derek for what seemed like the hundredth time that day.  
He looked at the two grumpy werewolves both brooding as they sat in mirrored silences. None of them were any good at holding a conversation, Derek simply didn’t and Jackson had been forbidden to open his mouth with a simple but powerful glare from his girlfriend after one too many complains. 

Stiles checked his phone that marked the 5th hour of their journey through the land of endless home interiors and decided that it had been good enough.  
“ Alright, Lydia, my queen, light of my life, goddess of all goddesses. Let this humble servant know, have you made your final choice?” 

Lydia rolled her eyes, exasperated fondness obvious in them.  
“ I made my choice. ”

Stiles bowed deep. “ Then I shall get you a vendor. ”  
He walked backwards and turned around instinctually lifting his hand to brush his fingers over Derek’s arm as he passed by him to go look for a sales person but stopped himself short, pausing his hand mid-air.  
Derek didn’t miss the movement.  
An embarrassed blush spread over the younger man’s face as he practically swirled around and stepped towards one of the aisles where a teenager was storing items on a shelf. 

He approached the teenager tensing up in his horrendous green coloured shirt distinguishing him as part of the staff.  
All the store's employees had scattered away hiding from them after Derek snapped and snarled at one for taking out a third panel of colours and materials for the new sofa they were to get for the loft after Lydia had already been looking at panels for half an hour. 

Derek watched on as Stiles approached the vendor and barely repressed the low growl vibrating in his throat when he saw the way Stiles smiled that beautiful smile at him and how the teenager seemed to relax a little and carefully smile back.  
Lydia lifted a perfect eyebrow at him having seen the lamentable exchange between them when she took her eyes off the panel for the first time since she’d gotten her hands on it.  
“ You know you could just tell him how you feel about him instead of having the both of you dancing around each other like idiots. ”

“ He still needs to heal. ”

“ That’s a crappy excuse and you know it, he’s been doing just fine. ” The banshee put back two of the fabric panels tucking one under her arm as she put her free hand on her hip, clearly scolding him. 

Derek frustratingly rubbed his hands over his face.  
“ I don’t want to force him into this. ”

Jackson snorted in what Derek thought had to be the most annoying way possible to both werewolf and man kind.  
“ Are you blind? It’s like he’s begging you to make a move. Desperate doesn’t look good on anyone. ”  
And the little bit of sympathy Derek had felt for him vanished.  
“ Shut up, Jackson. ”

Lydia rolled her eyes at them.  
“ What Jackson is trying to say is that whatever is going on with you right now, you shouldn’t push him away. He’s your mate. ”

Derek knew that. No one needed to remind him of it.  
He could smell it on him, he could feel it pulsing right under his skin the closer Stiles stood to him. The way their smell intertwined as one and lingered even on his clothes.  
Every time Stiles simply touched him with worry clear on his features, the weight of guilt pulled at the tight knot that had formed in his stomach. 

With all the mess that was Gerard Argent’s war and Deaton’s updates, much like the call he got this morning, Derek couldn’t just put that on Stiles’ plate too. He hadn’t even managed to tell him what was going on yet, how was he supposed to let him know that he was his mate too?  
He couldn’t tie Stiles to himself like that, Stiles deserved to have a choice without having to worry about Derek too.  
He wouldn’t force him into this, he could do that, he could never be like… like her. 

Derek gritted his teeth and looked away from Stiles and the vendor coming their way.  
“ That doesn’t mean I can force him into this. He has a choice.”

“ Then let him know that. ”  
Lydia whispered exasperation clear in her voice as she finally put down the last colour panel and turned to Stiles and the young vendor approaching them. 

 

 

“ Lyd’s I love you but I’m never going shopping with you ever again. ”  
Lydia didn’t react but Derek did. 

“ It was your great idea in the first place.”

“ And I will live with it on my conscience forever but look how beautiful the result is!”  
Both Stiles and Derek laid out of breath on the brand new sofa they'd just carried up to the loft. Well… Stiles was out of breath, Derek didn’t even look like his body knew what sweating was.

“ Stop slacking, there are still stuff to unpack here.”  
Lydia stalked away to the kitchen to unbox a few new items. Not only did they spend the day shopping but Lydia had insisted they fix the Loft right away. Derek suspected that was her way of punishing him.

“ No amount of extreme training could ever prepare one for Lydia Martin.” Stiles looked around from his spot on the sofa without bothering to move his entire body for it. “ You know? The loft really looks good now. It looked good before too, but now it looks warm, like a home I guess. ”

Derek’s chest felt like it would burst hearing Stiles refer to the loft as home.  
Stiles whined, unaware of what he was doing to the other man.  
“Ughhh, Derek, I’m so soaaaarrrr. Syphon it, you magical furry leech. ”

“ You really need to work on your sweet talking, you suck at it. ”  
Stiles laughed at that.  
“ Really? Well why don’t you teach me, Mr huffs and growls.”  
He turned to Derek leaning his head on his hands enjoying the way Derek finally smiled after three days that had felt like three years.  
Stiles was close enough to see how Derek’s smile reached his gray green kaleidoscope eyes only to see it falter and fall.  
“ Let’s finish unpacking. ”

“ Der, don't do this, don’t close me out again. Just talk to me.”

But Derek didn’t know how to put his fears into words, hadn’t done so since the last time he’d seen Laura and had begged her not to go back to Beacon Hills.  
He hadn’t been this close on the verge of losing everything since that last time he’d watched the retreating form of the camaro heading towards her death.  
Back then he still knew how to convey his feelings but it still hadn’t convinced her to stay. 

Now he stood there terrified to tell Stiles that he had to run for his life again because Gerard was waging a war under the sole pretense that he needed to get to him.  
He was terrified to tell Stiles that when he’ll run he’d take his heart and soul with him leaving him to slowly go feral and crazy just like Peter had after the fire.  
He didn’t know how to live without Stiles anymore because even though Derek hadn’t claimed him yet his human side had fell in love and his wolf side had recognized him as his mate, strengthening their bond anyways.

But Derek knew Stiles had to leave, because he was Red Riding, because people needed Red Riding more than Derek needed Stiles and Stiles would know it too. So he would pack his things and disappear out of his life without Derek being able to do anything about it. 

He’d been trying to figure out how to fix this for days and still didn’t even have one sentence to introduce Stiles to the shit show that was about to befall them.  
He needed more time, he wished he still had more time.  
Stiles watched how Derek fought not to let him see anything on his face and simply snapped. 

“ Lydia said there were still stuff down-” 

“ No.” 

Derek’s eyebrows did there complicated little dance before settling on a frown.  
“ But--”

“ Fuck you, Derek. I’m not letting you do this anymore.” Now Stiles stood to face Derek not nearly looking like the scared human Derek had brought back home that one fateful night. “ You have been closing me off since we got back from Deaton’s and I want to know what the hell is going on. You don’t talk, you don’t sleep, you barely even eat, you avoid me at any cost and when I try to ask you completely shut down. ”

Derek tried to step around him to get out of this but didn’t even manage to take a step before Stiles got in front of him and into his personal space stabbing his finger in his chest.

“ Oh, no. There will be no running away this time. You have made me feel like shit and I want to know why. Now. ”  
Derek’s wolf whined at the knowledge that he was responsible for the smell of anger and hurt coming off his mate. 

“ Derek just look around, you didn’t just close yourself off to me. You snap at your betas for no fucking reason and your vocabulary has resumed to one worded sentences and random growling. You’ve been trying to drive everyone away and it's hurting you and all of the pack. I know you would never do something like that on purpose, so what the fuck is going on? ”  
Derek looked around at his beta feeling the well known pang of failure washing over him like it used to before Stiles came into his life. 

The entire pack had stopped what they were doing and Derek didn’t know if the faint smell of fear he could smell was due to the reaction the betas expected him to have towards Stiles’ outburst or how Stiles was laying it out to him. 

Scott still had three chairs piled up in his arms but didn’t seem like he dared to put them down. Malia and Isaac were standing in the doorway probably having heard Stiles raise his voice. Lydia, Kira and Erica were looking from the were they stood at the kitchen counter no longer unpacking the new plates and kitchen utensils they'd got and Boyd and Jackson had stopped their piling up of discarded packing boxes to watch with expressions varying between awe and horror.  
Cora sat with Peter on the spiral staircase both looking a little stunned at the turn of events. 

Were they really expecting him to lash out at his own mate? Had he failed them that bad that they could see him as that kind of Alpha?  
Derek’s heart was beating so fast while Stiles’ remained steadier than it ever had. 

“ Stiles, let’s just-” 

“ I swear to God if the next sentence that comes out of your mouth isn’t an explanation as to why you have been acting like someone cut holes in all your henleys, drove your Camaro off a cliff and lighted it on fire, I will fucking kick the shit out of you. ”  
Stiles heartbeat didn’t falter once. 

Derek’s eyes found his sister’s but for the first time Cora didn’t seemed to be willing to argue with Stiles. 

“ I … ” 

Stiles’ eyebrows lifted up expectantly, his eyes still roaming over the Alpha’s face trying to decipher what Derek was willing to show while Derek allowed himself to look at the way they framed his eyes and how light reflected into said eyes.  
Amber light as whiskey would be if he held up a glass of it into the sun setting light. They nearly looked like fluid gold.  
Derek felt the knot in his stomach grow heavier and forced himself to keep tracking every single mole gracing Stiles’ face as he anchored himself.  
He was going to lose him and there was nothing he could do about it anymore, no lies of omission to delay the inevitable. 

While Derek took in every single detail of his face just one last time Stiles seemed to be seeing right through him.  
His expression softened and his fingers stroked past Derek’s hand ever so lightly he could have missed it if he hadn’t been starving for the human’s touch for three days already. He couldn’t even hide how much he longed for it as he felt all the walls he’d so carefully built and strengthened around himself over the years, crumble into dust. 

Stiles eyes searched his face, taking in all the emotions that passed on it seeing the wolf so open and bare for the first time.  
“ Common Big Guy, talk to me. ”  
Derek looked away, his wolf whining at the smell of worry still oozing off of Stiles.

Peter rolled his eyes and sighted from where he sat on the spiral staircase having had enough of his nephew taking the stick of excalibur out of his ass so darn slowly.  
“ Oh, for all of our sakes, nephew. Just spill it already. ”

All the betas turned to glare at him but Peter had never been one to apologize so he merely shrugged.  
Neither Stiles nor Derek paid attention to them. 

Derek rubbed his hand over his face feeling so tired.  
“ Gerard is waging war and you are right in the center of it all. ”

Stiles’ heartbeat stuttered before it picked up at a much faster pace than it had before but he didn’t move away. Instead he took Derek's hand in his and squeezed lightly encouraging the older man to keep going even though he felt like the blood in his veins had frozen.  
He said nothing while Derek felt like he was dying with every word.

“ The Ito clan up North have been hit for as far as we know there are no survivors. Deaton updated me today telling me that two other smaller packs have been hit too. He said it wasn’t only hunters looking for you anymore, everyone believes you are the answer to end this. ” Derek looked down avoiding Stiles’ eyes not wanting to see what kind of emotions would be visible in them.  
“ Chris and Allison Argent have been declared deserters and traitors to the Argent clan and packs like Deucalion’s and Kali’s have started to turn on each other set on finding you while Gerard keeps massacring any and every supernatural being on his path. ” 

Stiles frowned trying to put the pieces together but something still didn’t make sense.  
“ This makes no sense, why would you keep this from me? ”

Derek swallowed harsly lifting his gaze to Stiles, wishing he didn’t have to say these next words. 

“ Deaton said you weren’t safe anywhere, he said… he said you weren’t safe with me anymore. ” 

There, Derek thought, that was it. Now Stiles was going to gather his combat boots and look for all his belongings and stuff them in his backpack that had been forgotten in the farest corner of their closet.  
He would grab his favorite combat knives from the shelf Derek had gotten specially for him where Stiles stored all the training and fighting items he kept finding God knows where. Maybe he would even take the nunchucks Erica had gotten him as a joke not expecting Stiles to be able to handle them like a pro. 

Would he be wearing that new jacket Derek had gotten him when he would walk out the door?  
Would he yell? Would he be angry at Derek for not saying anything sooner?  
Would he not say a word and walk away without looking back, ripping out Derek’s heart when he'd slide the loft’s door shut on what they could have had?  
Derek had no words left to say.  
The silence in the loft kept stretching and the Alpha wondered if like his betas, Stiles too could hear how his heart was thundering in his chest, threatening to punch right out of it.

 

“ Dude, fuck that. ”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lemme wish all of you Healing, love, happiness and ca$h moneyzzzz for the coming year of 2019.


	23. Don't you get it?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 23 Finally!!!!

“ Dude, fuck that. ”

Derek frowned, taken aback by Stiles response but Stiles was already on a roll and didn’t stop to check if he was following or not.

“ I’m gonna need all the information you’ve got, we have plans to make, training sessions to organise and patrols to reschedule. I need a list of which packs have been attacked and where exactly they were, I know Gerard well enough and I know how hunters move and work so we can get to work right away and-” 

“ Stiles. ” The human stopped his back and forth walking to stare back at him. “ Deaton said you weren’t safe here.” 

A succession of emotions he couldn’t possibly all decipher went over Stiles’ face.

“I’m not going to leave just because Deaton said I wasn’t safe here! Dude, I’m so pissed you’d even think that. ”

He moved his hands around trying to convey his anger at Derek’s confused expression but all it translated was a frustrated flail as he started walking back and forth again to try and think of a good enough plan to get them out of this mess.

Then it hit him. 

“ Wait, so that’s what it was? ” Stiles turned back to Derek who was looking at him with so much pain in his eyes Stiles felt his heart clench. That was the exact same stare Derek had been giving him for three days now.  
That made Stiles impossibly more pissed.  
“ All this time you thought I was going to leave?! ”

“ Stiles, you have to. ”

“ You’re joking, right? Please, tell me you’re joking. ”

Stiles barely refrained from pinching the bridge of his nose in irritation and turned to the pack hoping to find some understanding. And he found some, mostly form Peter and Lydia but the others seemed to be divided. Cora and Boyd were wearing their signature poker face, which honestly was no help at all, thanks guys, while others like Scott were hesitant and some like Isaac looked pained and completely avoided his gaze. As if he had already abandoned them.  
“ I’m not leaving! Why would any of you think I’d leave?” A slight tremor of insecurity still made him ask. “ Am I not Pack? ” 

“ Of course you are! ” All the betas voiced and nodded their agreements along to Scott’s eager outburst, giving Stiles a little more courage as he turned back to Derek.  
“ Do I not call you my Alpha? ”  
The flash of red that crossed Derek’s eyes was enough of an answer for him.

Derek felt how his own wolf responded at the waves of anger coming off of him. A mix of anger and confidence burned in Stiles’ eyes. Derek couldn’t look away.  
He growled in warning, standing his ground against Stiles’ challenge. Stiles was unmistakably tempting the Alpha to respond to his anger and still Derek found him to be the most beautiful being he’d ever seen. 

Derek’s chest ached. Couldn’t he see how hard it already was for him?  
Derek gritted his teeth.  
“ Stiles, you have to go.”

“ I will not! ” 

“ Packs are tearing at each other and hunters are shooting at everyone, there is a bounty on your head. If you stay here they’ll find you. I don’t want to risk-”  
Stiles gave another outraged flail. 

“ Leaving is a risk too! ”

“ But staying is a bigger risk! You told me so yourself. Staying in the same place when you’re on the run is a mistake.” 

“ But I’m not on the run, I’m with my Pack.” 

“ Deaton- ” 

“ I don’t care about what Deaton said! ” Stiles was so frustrated by Derek that he couldn’t even control his voice. “ Don’t you get it?! I’m not safe anywhere, not as long as Gerard’s after me! I wasn’t safe when my father died, I wasn’t safe when Chris adopted me and I wasn’t safe when you took me in. ”  
Derek’s eyebrows dropped low and Stiles lifted his in defiance.

“Oh, you’re offended? Well so I am I! I’m not fucking helpless, you dick! I’ll let you know I’ve been saving my ass and many other asses since I was friggin four-teen and I most certainly never needed an Alpha to keep me safe! ” 

Now Derek wasn’t only hurt, he was pissed too. Pissed enough to give into Stiles’ challenging and snarl at him while he had been so set on keeping his calm.  
“ Then why the hell did you stay?! ”

“ Because of you! Because I’m so fucking in love with you it physically hurts me to just think of leaving you and your stupid face and your stupid bunny teeth smile and your stupid tumbhole sweaters and your stupid everything! ”  
Derek blinked.  
His wolf howled in joy thrashing around mad with joy while he remained incredulous both feet still firmly planted on the ground. 

Stiles inhaled and then exhaled but it only made it worse. Tears welled up in his eyes and he hated how shaky his voice sounded betraying how little control he had over his emotions when it came to the other man.

“ You hide your M&M’s in different places even when you know I’ll find them, you just keep doing it because you know I like it. You got me that Yoda cup even after you said it was ugly and swore you would never get it. You let me wear your favorite leather jacket when I’m cold even when you tell me to take my own jacket and I just don’t because I know that you’ll always let me borrow yours. You always eat your toasts from the bottom up! Do you even know how ridiculous that is?! Eating your toasts like that is a federal offense, Derek, but I still I fucking love watching you do it Every Single Morning! ”

“ You gave me a home when I hadn’t had one for so long that I forgot what it was. You welcomed me into your pack and gave me a family when I had no one. ”  
Stiles’ lower lip trembled drawing the Alpha’s attention to them and Stiles laughed. 

He laughed a sad broken laugh because somehow he just knew Derek wanted him to stay but he still would ignore his own desires to try and keep Stiles safe even though it was a really really stupid way to do so.  
“ Gosh, I’m so in love with you it’s fucking scary. ” Stiles had rubbed his face and mumbled it to himself but all the werewolves still heard it. 

Stiles took a breath, wiped his teary eyes on his sleeve, squared his shoulders and lifted his head up to look at Derek. He might have been spiraling down in a sea of his own emotions but right now he needed Derek to know exactly how much he meant it.  
“ Derek Hale, you’d better listen to my heartbeat cause I mean every single word. I am staying. The world could be coming to its end and I still wouldn’t want to be anywhere else than by your side. ”

Derek knew without having to listen to Stiles’ steady heartbeat, he knew he’d meant all of it.  
Even through his watery eyes, Stiles managed to smile smugly at him. That one ridiculous smug smile Derek simply couldn’t stand because he knew it could only mean Stiles had won yet it didn’t feel like Derek had lost.

He felt something he hadn’t ever felt before, not even with Paige.  
He felt like he was on top of the world for the very first time ever. He felt like he could howl for hours on end. He felt like he could run all the way to the end of the world and back without ever stopping because his mate loved him. Stiles loved him.  
He didn’t deserve to be loved yet somehow Stiles had deemed him worthy enough to be loved that he could feel their mate bond even as a human. 

Derek didn’t know how he should act, he just stood there hands clenching and unclenching as he felt how his claws tingled under his blunt human nails.  
He wanted to kiss Stiles. He wanted to rub himself all over him until they both smelled like a mix of each other.  
He was torn between shifting to run around mad with happiness like a wolf pup or looking into Stiles’ eyes forever or running out to the preserve to get him some flowers and hunt him a hare or better yet a buck or one of the million other possibilities that crossed his mind at the same time. Instead he just blurted it out like a complete idiot.

“ You’re my mate.” 

Derek winced internally and Stiles blinked at him. Boyd’s poker face melted into a grin, Erica and Kira squealed jumping up and down in pure glee, Lydia fondly rolled her eyes, Isaac whistled, Scott full on smiled, Jackson blew out a breath he didn’t even know he had been holding in, Malia shrugged and Cora resisted the urge to facepalm while Peter dramatically sighted.  
“ Smooth nephew, real smooth.” 

The eldest wolf stood from his comfortable spot on the spiral staircase grinning sharp teeth at his favourite human still blinking wildly as if Derek had short circuited him with only one sentence while he had just about dropped an entire book on him.  
Well at least Derek had managed to render the human speechless and that, for as far as he knew, was a first.  
“ Alright everyone, I think we should leave your Alpha and Pack mom alone for this one shall we.” 

“ Pack what now? ” Stiles heart skipped a beat then sped up as each of the betas hurried out. Scott smiled sheepishly as he hurried out, Isaac stated that “It was about time.” and Erica followed with a fake whispered “ Get it Batman! ”  
God knows why Kira thought it was okay to give him a thumbs up as she walked out with Malia. Lydia hugged him and walked out with Jackson uttering a “ Took you guys long enough.”.  
Cora gave him a long stare before giving a slight nod which Stiles felt was a sign that their rocky relationship was getting better.

Peter and Boyd were the last ones to walk out. The later one so serene it freaked Stiles out while the first seemed to be having a field trip when Stiles asked what the hell was going on.  
“ Don’t worry Little Red, you’ll be safe with the Big Bad Wolf. ”

Stiles didn’t know if he should be grossed out by Peter’s words or offended by the way he smiled brightly at him before walking out, completely ignoring Derek’s scowl. There was nothing comforting about it at all.  
Boyd simply nodded at Derek then at Stiles and tried not to smile at his bewildered heartbeat matched the look on his face when he walked out and slid the loft’s door shut. 

 

They were alone…  
Stiles had vented all of his feelings to Derek and now they were alone.  
Derek was painfully aware of how nervous Stiles was and how his eyes looked at anything but him. He sighted and went to sit on the new sofa somehow that got Stiles attention as his eyes tracked his every move. 

“ Maybe you should sit. ” 

“ What exactly did you mean by mate? Because I’ve heard people refer to their friends as mates and I kinda told you I was in love with you so I’m probably gonna need some time to deal with being rejected and- ” 

“ No! That’s not what I meant. ”  
And would you believe him if he said Derek down right blushed. Stiles was mesmerised by the way it spread from under Derek’s stubble to his cheekbones. “ Stiles would you just sit and let me explain. ” 

“ Oh, uh… ok yeah. I can sit. Yup. Yeah. Yes. Uhu, yeah. ” 

“ Stiles. ” Derek motioned for the seat next to him and Stiles swallowed harshly before sitting down. 

“ You’re my mate. It means both my wolf and human side have recognised you as mine. Something like that usually happens between two werewolves but having a human mate isn’t unheard of… it’s just rare. It makes things a little complicated.” Derek rubbed the back of his head looking for the right words. “ When a werewolf finds their mate that’s it for them, there will never be anyone else but with a human it’s different. You still have a choice, you can still walk away from this. We haven’t completed our bond and I don’t want to force you into anything.” 

Stiles frowned. “ What would have happen to you if I had left? ”  
Derek looked away. 

“ I… usually when the bond between an Alpha and their mate hasn’t been completed they can still walk out of it and break their bond without a problem so long as the Apha hasn’t claimed their mate both can still live their life without the other. ”

“ Okay… but what would have happened to you? ”

“ I slowly would have gone feral. I’ve already recognized you as my mate, there’s no going back for me. ”

Stiles expected that response but it still hurt to know that Derek was willing to sacrifice himself like that.  
It’s not like he didn’t get it, he did, but it wasn’t fair.  
Stiles slid his fingers between Derek’s and gave a tiny squeeze Derek reciprocated. 

“ You keep sacrificing yourself like that. You completely ignore danger to save me, you put yourself last even with the pack, getting us safe and comfortable even if it means you won’t be. As if you didn’t matter, but you do. You do to all of us, I need you to see that. ”  
Stiles softly squeezed Derek’s hand again. 

“ I don’t want to force you into this. ” 

“ You’re not forcing me into anything. Did you not hear my epic love confession? ” 

Derek scratched at his stubbled cheek and Stiles eyes followed the movement feeling the urge to scrape his teeth in it.  
“ I didn’t know you loved my stupid tumbhole sweaters that much.”

“ Seriously? I love them Derek! I love those more than life itself. ” Stiles declared in all seriousness making Derek smile. Stiles wanted Derek to smile like that forever.  
“ You said our bond wasn’t complete yet… ”

“ I have to claim you. The bite won’t turn you, but everyone will know you’re mine. ”

“ And are you mine? ”  
Derek didn’t hesitate a second. “ Since day one.” 

Softly the human closed the distance between them staring into the Alpha’s eyes until he leaned forward a little allowing Stiles to kiss him. This kiss was nothing like the others they’d shared before. It was feather light and sweet, the promise of something they had been building up to for a while now. Something both of them had been waiting for in suspense and now they could finally have it.  
Stiles broke their kiss and grinned as he looked into Derek’s eyes enjoying the way they turned crimson. 

“ Claim me, Alpha.” 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so very sorry for making all of you wait for so long. I'm kinda going through some messed up shit these past months and writing this chapter got pretty hard.  
> As I am right now the notion of happiness and love and such things is... foreign and so writing this was hard and I'm really hoping I did okay on this one. 
> 
> I wanna say thank you to all of you for the kudo's who keep reminding me that someone out there likes what I write, the comments that keep me warm on dark days and the silent readers too, I see y'all and I'm grateful for all of you guys. 
> 
> Shout out to all of you who might be going through some heavy shit. I feel y'all and you can always pop by on my tumblr to talk whenever you need a random stranger to vent to on https://www.tumbex.com/littlekoalacloud.tumblr/posts
> 
> And on that note; I'm going to try to update more and once again I solemnly swear to never abandon this fic.


End file.
